Finland’s Stubb To Meet Trump in Washington DC To Push Icebreaker Deal for Coast Guard
Alexander Stubb and Donald Trump during a round of golf in Florida. (Source: @realDonaldTrump/TruthSocial)
After several months of calm the topic of Finnish icebreaker for the U.S. Coast Guard appears set to come to the forefront again with both Finland’s Prime Minister and President meeting with U.S. President Trump in Washington DC thursday. Finland has been pitching its icebreaker construction expertise for months as the U.S. is looking to expand its fleet.
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb is set to arrive in Washington thursday for high-level talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. The bilateral talks will include discussions on bilateral trade, defense policy, and the war in Ukraine.
In an unusual move Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo will be joining Stubb during the working visit. This is the first time the two Finnish leaders are jointly meeting with Trump.
Their meeting will almost certainly include efforts to advance a proposal for Finnish shipyards to build icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard. The meeting marks a new push in Finland’s recent effort to export its polar shipbuilding expertise.
Discussions
Stubb earlier this year completed a surprise visit to the President’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida joining Trump for a round of golf, with Finnish officials confirming that icebreakers were discussed during that meeting.
Finnish yards and icebreaker engineering firms have strategically positioned themselves to participate in any upcoming procurements of U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers.
We have the capability to build icebreakers
The Helsinki Shipyard, part of Canadian company Davie, has a ready and proven design suitable for U.S. use, while design firm Aker Arctic is cooperating with American firm Bollinger and Canadian Seaspan Shipyards on icebreaker development.
ICE Pact
The flurry of cross-border cooperation between the U.S., Canada, and Finland in part originates with the Biden-era trilateral ICE Pact to advance polar icebreaker development.
Prime Minister Orpo confirmed during a recent parliamentary debate that his government was ready to discuss icebreakers with U.S. counterparts.
“We have the capability to build icebreakers. We have the expertise. We are ready to talk about these things,” Orpo said.
Finland’s largest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reports that the ultimate goal is to secure an agreement for icebreakers with President Trump during the upcoming meeting.
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$8bn for icebreakers
The U.S. Coast Guard received substantial funding as part of President Trump’s massive budget bill earlier this summer; likely sufficient to acquire up to 6-8 icebreakers. Exact fleet size and the mix of large and medium vessels ultimately depends on where they will be built.
While Finland has a proven track record constructing large polar-class vessels for under $500 million, an equivalent icebreaker under construction in the U.S. currently will likely carry a $2 billion price tag when it's complete in the 2030s.
At a NATO summit in June, Trump confirmed U.S. talks with Finland to acquire up to 15 icebreakers, including the possible purchase of a lightly used vessel. Though no concrete steps have emerged in the months since.
Waiver
One key aspect will be whether Trump could waive domestic-build rules applicable to defense spending to fast-track Finnish icebreakers.
The president has the ability to grant a waiver in exceptional cases though it could come with domestic pushback from lawmakers who don’t want American taxpayer dollars flowing abroad.
While building icebreakers in Finland could in the short-term plug the U.S. icebreaker gap, it may do little to reinvigorate the American shipbuilding sector – a longstanding goal of the U.S. President.
