Trump strikes deal for icebreaker ships as competition grows in the Arctic

By CNN Newsource

Published October 9, 2025 2:21 PM

By Haley Britzky, Jennifer Hansler, CNN

(CNN) — The US Coast Guard is buying four icebreaker ships from Finland, further bolstering America’s ability to put military assets in the Arctic at a time when Russia and China’s influence in the region is growing — and as experts have worried the US is not moving quickly enough.

The agreement, formally unveiled Thursday to coincide with a White House meeting between US President Donald Trump and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, is part of a larger deal to use “Finnish expertise” to construct up to seven additional icebreakers in US shipyards, a White House official told CNN. The up to 11 total medium icebreakers are expected to cost around $6.1 billion, the official added, with the goal of the first being delivered by 2028.

“The cooperation benefits both countries, Finland and the United States,” Stubb said in a post on X on Thursday, noting that he is “proud that Finnish arctic expertise is appreciated and trusted.”

The Coast Guard, which operates American icebreakers, commissioned its third icebreaker into service in August this year — the first acquired by the service in more than 25 years.

“What you’re doing is you’re going to be teaching us about the icebreaker business,” Trump said when reporters were invited into the Oval Office for a segment of the White House meeting. “By the time we finish, we’re going to make them maybe better than you, but at least as well, but probably not better, but at least as well.”

Stubbs noted during the meeting that Trump had raised the issue of icebreakers when they first talked months ago.

“I remember the first conversation we had, you know, you mentioned the fact that Russia has 40 and you need to start ramping this up,” he said. “And this is an indication that we’re going to do it and we’re going to do it together.”

Finland’s expertise in the Arctic — a significantly strategic important region for the United States and for NATO more broadly — was a key benefit to having Finland join NATO in 2023, Iris Ferguson, formerly the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Arctic and global resilience under the Biden administration, told CNN.

“The Arctic know-how, the border with Russia, the knowledge of Russia and their intentions and motivations, how they’ve strategically planned not only around capabilities like icebreakers, but also ground warfare, cyber warfare — they bring a lot of capabilities to bear that are useful for the Alliance and for the United States in the Arctic and more broadly,” Ferguson, who is currently a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said.

Ferguson said the two older US icebreakers – a heavy icebreaker and a medium icebreaker — are often in and out of maintenance.

China, meanwhile, has five medium icebreakers, Ferguson said, and Russia has “the most icebreakers of any nation” with eight nuclear heavy icebreakers and dozens more medium style vessels. Stubbs put the total at 40 during the oval office meeting.

The push to increase the US’ presence in the Arctic has been top of mind for years, particularly as China and Russia have turned their attention to the region. The Pentagon’s 2024 Arctic Strategy noted that major geopolitical changes – including the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO and growing collaboration between Russia and China – are demanding a strategy shift from the US.

“This increasingly accessible region is becoming a venue for strategic competition, and the United States must stand ready to meet the challenge alongside Allies and partners,” then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in the strategy report.

The US has a number of military bases in the Arctic, including joint Army-Air Force base Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson which is a strategically critical base for the US military in the Pacific, Army base Fort Wainwright, Eielson Air Force Base, Space Force base Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, and several Coast Guard facilities.

Ferguson said that the attention from Trump on the icebreaker issue and the Arctic more broadly is “a really big deal” for a region that can often be overlooked by Washington-based officials. Still, she said, there is more work to be done to ensure recent efforts materialize and are effective.

“I think the challenge will be in implementation. It’s going to be really hard to have the right personnel to ensure that budgets don’t just wildly explode with timelines,” she said, “because we haven’t done this recently.”

CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.