Canada, Finland tout different paths of ‘icebreaker diplomacy’ with US

MILAN — Canadian and Finnish shipbuilders have made different offers to the United States for the production of icebreakers , which must weigh what it values more: speed or its sovereign shipyard industry.

Following President Donald Trump’s expressed interest in January of acquiring 40 new icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard, Helsinki has set its sights on scoring what could be a major deal with Washington.

Before his visit to meet with the American leader in Florida last month, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said that he hoped “icebreaker diplomacy would help Finland maintain good relations with the U.S. and Trump.”

However, the country is not the only one in line, as a major Canadian shipbuilder specialized in the construction of such vessels wants a piece of the business .

“Finland is most definitely trying to build the U.S. icebreakers in Finland. … The discussions we’ve been having with the U.S. is around whether they could take our design and use it to build their icebreakers domestically in their own shipyards,” David Hargreaves, senior vice president of business development at Seaspan, told Defense News.

“That concept seems to be getting a fair level of traction both in Washington at a political level,” he added. “We had last week a visit of a U.S. congressman, and we’ve been having various conversations with U.S. yards who are in a position to build these types of vessels,” he added.

Under U.S. law most Coast Guard vessels and their major components must be constructed in American shipyards to support national industries and enhance national security. However, exceptions may be authorized by the president.

Trump has been adamant that he wants the vessels to be delivered quickly, as the ones operated by the country’s Coast Guard are approaching retirement age, but he also wants to rejuvenate national shipbuilding capabilities.

“It really depends where America puts its priority – if it’s on schedule, then Finland is probably the right answer. If they continue to put priority, which they have, on having their own sovereign shipbuilding capability, then Finland is not the right answer,” Hargreaves said.

Another possibility, he noted, may be that Washington opts for a hybrid strategy, where they could buy one or several icebreakers from Finland to get those faster while simultaneously having a program to build the rest in the United States.

While Trump’s has been talking about 40 new vessels, a 2023 Coast Guard fleet mix analysis concluded that the service would need between 8 to 9 polar icebreakers, including four to five heavy ones as well as medium ones, to conduct its Arctic missions effectively in the future.

Trade relations between Canada and the U.S. have been significantly strained over the last few months due to a series of tariffs and retaliatory actions. On April 9, Ottawa extended the rates placed on U.S. automobiles and parts, as Washington announced a 90-day pause on certain tariffs, but the 10% standard on most Canadian imports remained.

The shipbuilding industry has somehow largely been spared from such economic strains, with joint work between the two neighbors persisting, said Hargreaves.

“We are a business, we are looking at opportunities. Selling our design to them or our services around helping them to build icebreakers is a business opportunity – we are not going to get caught up in some of the current fuss and have a longer outlook,” he said, referring to Trump government.

Meanwhile, all three countries are still respectively trying to figure out how to implement the trilateral Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, or ICE Pact, aimed at combining Finnish, Canadian. and American expertise on the Arctic.

Country representatives are set to meet again in May to discuss more concrete steps on icebreaker design and production, shipyard workforce development and research related to polar regions.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——加拿大和芬兰的造船企业向美国提出了不同的破冰船生产方案，美国必须权衡自己更看重什么：速度还是其自主的造船业。

今年1月，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普表示有意为美国海岸警卫队购置40艘新的破冰船，此后，赫尔辛基便将目光投向了与华盛顿达成一项可能意义重大的交易。

芬兰总统亚历山大·斯图布上个月在佛罗里达州会见美国领导人之前表示，他希望“破冰外交能够帮助芬兰与美国和特朗普保持良好关系”。

然而，该国并非唯一对此感兴趣的国家，一家专门建造此类船舶的加拿大大型造船企业也想分一杯羹。

“芬兰绝对正在努力在芬兰建造美国的破冰船。……我们一直在与美国讨论他们是否可以采用我们的设计，并在他们自己的造船厂建造他们的破冰船，”Seaspan公司负责业务发展的高级副总裁大卫·哈格里夫斯告诉《防务新闻》。

他补充说：“这个理念似乎在华盛顿的政治层面上获得了相当大的支持。上周一位美国国会议员来访，我们也一直在与有能力建造这类船舶的美国船厂进行各种洽谈。”

根据美国法律，大多数海岸警卫队舰艇及其主要部件必须在美国造船厂建造，以支持国家产业并增强国家安全。但是，总统可以授权例外情况。

特朗普一直坚持希望尽快交付这些舰艇，因为美国海岸警卫队使用的舰艇即将退役，但他同时也希望重振国家造船能力。

哈格里夫斯说：“这实际上取决于美国的优先事项——如果按计划进行，那么芬兰可能是正确的选择。但如果他们继续把拥有自主造船能力作为优先事项（而他们确实如此），那么芬兰就不是正确的选择。”

他指出，另一种可能性是华盛顿选择混合战略，即从芬兰购买一艘或几艘破冰船以更快地获得这些船只，同时制定计划在美国建造其余的破冰船。

虽然特朗普一直在谈论建造 40 艘新船，但 2023 年海岸警卫队舰队构成分析得出结论，该部门未来需要 8 到 9 艘极地破冰船，其中包括 4 到 5 艘重型破冰船和中型破冰船，才能有效地执行其北极任务。

过去几个月，由于一系列关税及报复措施，加美贸易关系显著紧张。4月9日，渥太华延长了对美国汽车及零部件征收的关税，而华盛顿则宣布暂停部分关税90天，但对大多数加拿大进口商品仍维持10%的标准关税。

哈格里夫斯表示，造船业在很大程度上免受了这种经济压力的影响，两国之间的合作仍在继续。

“我们是一家企业，我们正在寻找机会。向他们出售我们的设计或帮助他们建造破冰船的服务都是商机——我们不会被当前的喧嚣所困扰，我们会着眼于更长远的未来，”他指的是特朗普政府。

与此同时，这三个国家仍在各自努力寻找实施三方破冰船合作计划（ICE Pact）的方法，该计划旨在结合芬兰、加拿大和美国在北极地区的专业知识。

各国代表将于5月再次会面，讨论破冰船设计和生产、造船厂劳动力发展以及与极地地区相关的研究等方面的更具体措施。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。