Trump and StubB discussed the strengthening of US and Finland relations, including the purchase of icebreakers, during an informal visit to Mar-A-Lago.
US President Donald Trump in his Florida headquarters Mar-A-Lago visited the Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb on Saturday. It was unannounced and, according to the stubb, an informal visit. According to Trump, leaders played golf and discussed the strengthening of bilateral relationships – including the purchase of icebreakers for the US. According to Reuters, TASR reports this.
As the office of the Finnish President, Stubb and Trump informed on her website, they met at breakfast, played a game of golf and lunch together. Among other things, they discussed the relations between Finland and the United States, as well as current foreign and security policy, including the situation in Ukraine.
“We are looking forward to strengthening the partnership between the United States and Finland, which includes the purchase and development of a large number of highly necessary icebreakers for the US to ensure peace and international security for our countries and the whole world,” Trump wrote on his social platform Truth Social.
Finland is the leading world producer of icebreakers
According to Reuters, Finland is the world’s leading icebreaker producer. Approximately 80 percent of these ships were designed by Finnish companies and 60 percent of them were built in Finnish shipyards.
Canada, Finland and the United States concluded an agreement called “Icebreaker Collaboration Effort” last year, which aims to cooperate on the development of Arctic and polar icebreakers “through the exchange of knowledge, information and resources”.
These vessels are key to Trump’s plans to expand American power in the Arctic, where both Russia and China are active. Shortly after his inauguration, Trump announced in January that he wanted to order about 40 “large” icebreakers.
The US President repeatedly shows his interest in taking control of Greenland, which is the autonomous territory of Denmark, and has not even excluded the use of power. This is often justified by national and international security.
There are only about 57,000 people on the largest island of the world. There are deposits of valuable minerals, which have not been used so far. Since 1979, Greenland has been autonomous in many areas, but Denmark is still deciding on foreign and defense policy.
