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Finland is optimistic that it will be able to get around long-standing regulatory barriers to build icebreakers for the US as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to beef up its Arctic security presence.
Reko-Antti Suojanen, a former shipbuilding executive who leads Finland’s co-operation with the US on icebreakers, told the Financial Times that after many years of fruitless talks, he was hopeful of a breakthrough thanks to Trump’s interest.
Trump has bemoaned his country’s lack of icebreakers as geopolitical competition heats up in the frozen north: the US has just two, while Russia boasts about 40.
The US coastguard currently has three large icebreakers on order but they are delayed by at least five years and have run heavily over budget. Under American law, all ships for the navy and coastguard are required to be built domestically.
The previous icebreaker made in the US was built in the 1970s.
“While the President is prioritising shipbuilding in America, immediate presence in the Arctic is in the best interest of our national security. We are working with our ally Finland to expedite this process,” a White House official said.
Finland is the world’s leading manufacturer of icebreakers and signed a deal in March to produce one such vessel for Canada.
“Our industry would be very keen to sell new icebreakers to the United States, as to any other buyer. It’s a special knowhow that we have . . . We are trying to open the gap in a way that exceptions could be made and Finnish shipyards could build icebreakers for the United States,” said Suojanen.
Maritime experts say the US president could issue a waiver to the ban on constructing navy or coastguard vessels in foreign shipyards to secure the ships, which would be used to patrol the Arctic.
Trump himself alluded to the ban this week when he discussed buying icebreakers from Finland and added: “I didn’t go to Congress — they’ll try and impeach me”.
The US president said that as well as new icebreakers, he was also discussing buying one currently in service for Finland. He added that it was “old, like five, six years’ old” and that he had offered a third of what Helsinki wanted. “They make them really good, and they know what they’re doing,” he added.
Suojanen confirmed there were discussions about selling a used icebreaker, but said Finland was not selling Polaris, its newest vessel, built in 2016.
“It’s the fastest way to get one. The problem is that Finland does not have additional icebreakers,” he said, adding that Finland had its own programme for building new icebreakers to replace its existing fleet, but that this was moving slowly.
Discussions on purchasing icebreakers from Finland started in Trump’s first presidency from 2017 until 2021 but did not come to fruition.
However, Trump’s interest in strengthening America’s Arctic security appears stronger in his second term, including his persistent desire to take control over Greenland from Nato ally Denmark.
The US coastguard intends to order three medium-sized icebreakers in the near term. On that, Suojanen said: “If the icebreakers are needed fast, they have to be built in Finland. I don’t think there’s a yard in the US at the moment that’s able to build icebreakers quickly.”
Additional reporting by Steff Chávez
