Finnish president boosts ties with Trump in surprise Florida visit

By Andrea Shalal and Anne Kauranen

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) -Finnish President Alexander Stubb made a surprise trip on Saturday to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida, where the two leaders discussed strengthening their countries' bilateral partnership and played a round of golf.

"President Stubb and I look forward to strengthening the partnership between the United States and Finland, and that includes the purchase and development of a large number of badly needed Icebreakers for the U.S., delivering Peace and International Security for our Countries, and the World," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The two presidents met for breakfast, played golf and had lunch together. They also discussed foreign policy issues, including Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with Stubb in Helsinki last week.

The Finnish president's office said in a statement that Stubb's unannounced visit with Trump was informal. Trump arrived at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday afternoon, before heading to the golf club he owns in West Palm Beach on Saturday morning for a golf tournament.

Senator Lindsey Graham joined Trump's team, he said in a post on X, in which he also praised the golfing skills of Stubb, who played golf as an undergraduate at Furman University in Graham's home state of South Carolina.

Trump's meeting with Stubb took place a day after Vice President JD Vance made an uninvited visit to Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Finland's close Nordic ally Denmark. Vance accused Denmark of doing a poor job keeping Greenland safe.

Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, part of a growing international focus on competition to control the Arctic. Denmark's government opposes such a move, as do most Greenland residents.

Trump told NBC News in an interview on Saturday that he would "never take military force off the table" to accomplish his goal, but said he believe there was "a good possibility" it could be done without resorting to force.

Asked what message acquiring Greenland would send to Russia and the rest of the world, Trump said, "I don't really think about that. I don't really care."

Finland is the world's leading producer of icebreakers. About 80% of the ships have been designed by Finnish companies, and around 60% of them have been built at Finnish shipyards.

In November, Canada, Finland and the U.S. administration of former President Joe Biden signed a deal called the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort to work "together to develop world-class Arctic and polar icebreakers through the exchange of knowledge, information, and resources."

Before his visit, Stubb had said he hoped to play golf with Trump and that icebreaker diplomacy could help Finland maintain good relations with the U.S. and Trump.

Finland shares the European Union's longest border with Russia. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Helsinki made a foreign policy U-turn after decades of military non-alignment, deciding to join NATO together with Sweden.

Trump's frequent criticism of NATO allies and his shift toward normalizing relations with Russia have some European countries scrambling to boost their own defense spending.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Palm Beach, Ismail Shakil in Toronto and Anne Kauranen in Helsinki; Writing by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Michelle Nichols, David Gregorio and William Mallard)