Nuuk: Greenland’s Prime Minister on Sunday delivered a sharp "no thanks" to President Donald Trump’s unsought proposal to dispatch a U.S. Navy hospital ship to the Arctic island.

The rejection follows a Saturday night post on Truth Social where Trump claimed he was working with Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry to send a "great hospital boat" to Greenland. The president asserted the mission was intended to "take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there."

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the head of Greenland's autonomous government, took to Facebook on Sunday to dismiss the premise of the American offer.

"That will be 'no thanks' from us," Nielsen wrote. "President Trump's idea to send a US hospital ship here to Greenland has been duly noted. But we have a public health system where care is free for citizens."

Universal Care vs Unsolicited Aid

The diplomatic friction highlights the contrast between the American and Greenlandic healthcare models. In Greenland, a territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, all residents have universal access to a tax-funded public health system.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also weighed in on Sunday, echoing Nielsen’s sentiment. "I am happy to live in a country where there is free and equal access to health for all," Frederiksen posted. "Where it's not insurance and wealth that determine whether you get proper treatment."

Strategic Tensions

The unsolicited medical mission comes amid Trump’s ongoing efforts to increase U.S. influence over the resource-rich island, which he has repeatedly expressed a desire to acquire for national security reasons.

The proposal also followed a Saturday morning incident in which the Danish Joint Arctic Command evacuated a crew member from a U.S. submarine off the coast of Nuuk for urgent medical treatment. While Trump claimed the hospital ship was already "on the way," maritime tracking data suggests the U.S. Navy’s two hospital ships, the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, remain in maintenance at an Alabama shipyard.

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen confirmed Sunday that no such assistance had been requested. "The Greenlandic population receives the healthcare it needs," Poulsen said. "So it's not as if there's a need for a special healthcare initiative."

With inputs from AFP