Yle: The United States wants to have a number of icebreakers comparable to Russia
Finland has been trying to sell icebreakers to the United States since the Cold War, Yle writes. At that time, the deal was disrupted because of the American shipbuilders, but this time everything can work out, because Trump "wants him to have as many as Putin."
Jessica Morney
Alexander Stubb is not the first Finnish president to try to sell icebreakers to the United States.
Helsinki and Washington have agreed that the United States will buy Finnish icebreakers, but this in itself is not news. During the Cold War, icebreakers already played a pivotal role in Finland's diplomatic relations with the great powers — the United States and the USSR.
Icebreakers as an object of historical research
"When Finnish politicians met with Soviet or American leaders, they needed to discuss something harmless, but preferably impressive. And icebreakers have repeatedly "broken the ice" in diplomatic negotiations," explains technology historian Saara Matala from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg.
Finnish shipbuilders have always needed the help of politicians to sell these politically significant vessels abroad.
Matala notes that diplomacy is primarily about personal relationships. The fact that Presidents Alexander Stubb and Donald Trump play golf together has certainly played an important role.
Fierce resistance from American shipbuilders
Finnish shipyards have long been renowned as world leaders in the construction of icebreakers. Today, almost 80% of the world's icebreakers are designed by Finnish designers, and almost 60% come off Finnish slipways.
Finland tried to sell icebreakers to the United States during the Cold War, in the 1960s and 1970s. President Urho Kekkonen was determined, and the deal was nearing completion in the 1970s. The then US Ambassador to Finland, Mark Ostad, drew the attention of US President Gerald Ford that the purchase of icebreakers was not the main thing in itself. It is important to show Finland — and at the same time the Soviet Union — that the United States will not let it be offended. However, the American shipbuilders gave a decisive rebuff.
"The American shipbuilding industry did not want the government to purchase new icebreakers abroad. The Coast Guard also did not want to use foreign-made icebreakers. This was new to the Americans: before that, no one claimed to be able to build ships better than them," explains Matala.
The Soviet Union had no problems with the purchase.
At that stage, the USSR was a major buyer of Finnish icebreakers. The Soviet authorities themselves invested in the construction of nuclear icebreakers, but at the same time they willingly imported advanced technologies from Finland.
Saara Matala says that power politics and relations with Russia are also crucial in the current situation with icebreakers.
"I believe that in today's America, much also depends on the politics of force. Trump wants to have as many icebreakers as Putin. At the same time, he wants to show that the United States and Finland are allies and that they have good relations," says Matala.
She believes that the world's best icebreakers are an important part of Finland's self—image, and that they are needed to boost her self-esteem. Finnish icebreakers have become a symbol of technical expertise and advanced technologies.
