TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Holds a Bilat with Alexander Stubb of Finland, 10.9.25
[Video]
Note: [Begins in progress]
President Donald Trump: -- set a record. We have both the president of Finland and we have the prime minister of Finland and that's never -- I don't ever remember having a president and a prime minister, but that's a great honor. And thank you very much both for being here. And Alex, we've been friends for a long time and I've heard wonderful things about your prime minister also. And we have a big order coming up. We're buying icebreakers and we're building them together for the most part. We're doing four over there and seven over here. And we negotiated a pretty tough price, I think. But I assume you're going to do very well. But what you're doing is you're going to be teaching us about the icebreaker business, very -- very strong.
We only have one icebreaker. In all of that millions and millions of acres. We only have one icebreaker. And other countries have more than we do, and we're buying the finest icebreakers in the world, and Finland is known for making them. They sort of have almost a monopoly on icebreakers, if you think about it. Nobody makes them like Finland. I've heard that for a long time. So we're going to have a total of 11. And it's been really an honor working on it. It was very important. We were making them, but we didn't make them right. By the time we finished, we were going to make them maybe better than you, but at least as well, but -- probably not better, but at least as well. So I appreciate both of you being here. It's an honor to have both of you, really, tremendous reputations and it's a great country. Thank you very much. Alex, would you like to --
President Alexander Stubb: Yeah. No, thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I mean, I remember our first conversation just after you had been elected in November. The first thing you mentioned was icebreakers, we need them, and then we've been working on this issue ever since. And we're happy to announce that we're basically building 11 icebreakers together, four of them in Finland in joint endeavors and then seven of them here. And I think the reason that we've landed in Finland is that 60 percent of the world's icebreakers are built in Finland.
Trump: Right.
Stubb: 80 percent are designed. We've been building them for over 100 years. And speaking of price and time, I think we're the country that can provide them half the price and half the time that others have it. And I think this is a huge strategic decision by the president as well, because we all know that the Arctic is important strategically, militarily and in terms of the economy as well. And now we can work on this together. Finland is a strange country in the sense that we are probably the only country in the world where all the ports are frozen in the winter, and that's why we built the know how in icebreakers. Now we can work on this together. And 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, and this is an indication that we're going to do it and we're going to do it together. I also think that this strengthens our bilateral relations. I know I come from a small country, but for us to be able to work together with you is extremely important from a strategic perspective as well. So we appreciate the cooperation and we're going to deliver the first one 2028.
Trump: Good. Just a little bit before a big event.
Stubb: Yeah, that's true.
Trump: But it's great. And actually it's true. We were -- I came here and they were building an icebreaker and they had no idea what they were doing. They had no idea how much it was going to cost. They knew nothing. And we have our Secretary of the Navy right over here. We're working on a lot more than icebreakers. We're working on some very, very big and important ships, but they had no idea what they were doing. And I was with you, and I ended up meeting you and knowing you and I heard about Finland and their icebreakers. And I said, do me a favor, would you have your people take a look at what these people are doing? And it came out that just as I thought, they had no idea what they were doing. And we got involved and we ended up -- we need -- we need these ships very badly because we have -- we have a lot of territory, more than anybody. And so I'm very honored to have this deal and thank you very much. It's going to be great. It's going to be a great partnership. And it's a great honor to have you, Mr. Prime Minister. Would you like to say something, please?
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo: First, Mr. President, thank you very much. It's a great honor to be here today. And as a Prime Minister of Finland, I want to say that this deal is very important to Finland and our economy because our economy is suffering a lot because of Russian aggression in Ukraine and this -- this deal means investments. It means jobs and jobs means hope and that's why this is so important. And I want to thank your leadership on this deal and this issue. Thank you very much.
Trump: So you've been affected very badly by the war going on, the ridiculous war going on, right?
Orpo: Yes, because we have -- we have to close the border with Russia. We have 1300 kilometers border with them and it affects the atmosphere in Finland, in investments and that's why we need good news. Our people need hope.
Trump: Right. So your border is closed.
Orpo: It's closed.
Trump: And that's because you have so many Russians trying -- Russians trying to get in?
Orpo: Yes, they -- they started to push illegal migrants through our border. That's why we were forced to close it.
Trump: And people also that don't want to go into the military, I guess, trying to come through, right?
Stubb: Yeah, but some of them are escaping. Fortunately, on our side, we don't have that problem. In Finland --
Trump: No, you have a great military.
Stubb: Yeah. We -- I mean, we have compulsory military service and as I always say, we have 900,000 men and women who've done it, including myself and the prime minister. We have 200 --
Trump: And you've been fighting Russia for a long time. So how many years have you been indirectly fighting Russia from now?
Stubb: Well, put it this way, we have managed our relationship since the 1300s with about 30 skirmishes, but it's been very peaceful at our border after World War II.
Trump: Is that right, 1300s?
Stubb: Yeah. But we -- it's been peaceful at our border since the Winter War and the war of continuation. But I mean, a lot of it is because we actually have a very large military. It's the biggest in Europe, together with Turkey, Ukraine and Poland. We have over 60 F-18s. We just bought 64 F-35s. We'll roll out the first one in Texas, in December. We have the biggest artillery in Europe together with Poland. And I always say we don't have it because we're worried about Stockholm.
Trump: Well, you really have proportionately, I think the largest military in the world, proportionately.
Stubb: It's quite big. Yes, I have to admit, but you know, we have it for defense purposes and also to build a deterrence, and it's worked. And I think that's one of the reasons that our relationship is so good as well. We have the Defense Cooperation Agreement with you.
Trump: Right.
Stubb: We are new allies in NATO. Our defense expenditures going north of three percent. We work very closely with you, and the rest of our allies. And you know, when you pushed the ceiling of defense expenditure in NATO to five percent, you can imagine that a country like Finland was quite pleased with that, because that means that all of the allies have to bring up their defense expenditure. And you basically increased our security just with that decision in The Hague. And I have to admit that having been to my first NATO summit in the summer of 2024, if someone would have told me that you will move from two percent to five percent after Trump enters, I would have said, go see a doctor, but you know, you did it. Well, had to do it and you were -- you were great about it. Spain has not been. Spain is the one that didn't do it. And so I think you people are going to have to start speaking to Spain. The only one that didn't do it, the only NATO country that didn't do it is Spain, and you'll figure what that's all about, right?
Stubb: Yeah. I mean, we'll -- we'll work and I think with the leadership also, Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, I think, you know, there are a lot of commitments that have to take place and this is, of course, is going to also increase industrial defense exchanges. I think we buy four times more military material here from the US, and I think it's an essential part of -- of our whole military setup in Europe. And it's good to be working on this together. But there's one thing that I wanted to mention also, I want to congratulate you for what we have seen in the past four hours in Gaza. I think it's a historic deal. I went through the 20 points. It's almost like the Best Of record. You really see all the key elements.
And if someone would have said a few weeks back, that you and your team are able to push us to a position where there will be a ceasefire, an exchange of prisoners, hostages and then a pullback, I would not have believed it. But it's -- this is what diplomacy is at its best and I think it's a potentially huge deal. So, congratulations to you and your team.
Trump: Peace in the Middle East.
Stubb: Peace in the Middle East, yeah.
Trump: And every country came together, every single country came together, and people are shocked by it. But it's an amazing situation. Nobody thought it was going to happen. Thank you very much. And you've been of help too; you help always, but we are really working more closely together having to do with Russia, Ukraine. And I would have thought that would have been easier because that would be number eight for me, number eight. And I would have thought the Russia deal maybe would have been one of the easier ones. And unfortunately, last week they had over 7,000 soldiers die unnecessarily. So, it's a terrible thing, but I think we'll be getting there hopefully soon.
Yeah, probably we'll go -- I mean, or you will be going piece by piece. I mean there are only so many agreements that you can get done and I think this one will be the next big one. Of course, this one needs to stick and I'm sure it will because the incentives are all there. And then we'll continue to work. I mean, the last time I was here in the Oval Office was with the other European leaders in August. And I think we did a lot of good advancement there on security arrangements. I think you've pushed us Europeans hard not to buy oil and gas from Russia, which I think is a very correct decision. Europe just put down its 19th sanctions package. I think Russia is actually right now, both economically and militarily, not in a very strong place, and I think it's because of the commitments that we've made to Ukraine. So, day by day on this one.
Trump: We're going to get it worked out. Questions, please.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Question: A question for President Stubb. You have time and again said that one should not underestimate Mr. Trump's negotiating ability. Do you personally believe that Mr. Trump deserves to win the Nobel Peace Prize tomorrow?
Stubb: Well, I think that's probably a decision that comes from the Nobel Committee. And my take is that there are two key pieces that have to be solved in the big picture. One is in the Middle East and we're seeing the results of that. And then the other one is between Russia and Ukraine. And once those are solved, and I don't see any impediments to it.
Question: [Inaudible] Mr. Trump next year if he doesn't win?
Stubb: This year? I think probably the best nomination would be coming from Zelenskyy and then the King of Jordan. Those would be two that would come. But I think you have to -- I mean my experience with the Nobel Peace Prize comes from Martti Ahtisaari, the former President of Finland. He got it in 2008, and he got it because he negotiated three peace agreements on three different continents, Namibia in Africa; Kosovo, Serbia in Europe; and then Aceh in Indonesia.
Stubb: And his message was always that when you do a peace agreement, the key is that it looks like an equal match, that the big guy doesn't win over the small guy and vice versa. But I have to say that the track record of the president of the United States in the past seven months, eight months is rather impressive.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Question: Thank you so much, Mr. President. First of all, thank you, all of you, on behalf of the State of Israel for everything that you're doing for my country. I want to know how do you see the Middle East in a year from now under your leadership? And if you see maybe option for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia?
Trump: I think it's going to be great. I think it's -- the hostages will be coming back Monday or Tuesday. I'll probably be there; I hope to be there. And we're planning on leaving sometime Sunday and I look forward to it. And everybody I see is celebrating in Israel, but they're celebrating in many other countries too. A lot of the Muslim and Arab countries, they're celebrating -- everybody's celebrating. Everybody loves the deal. So, it's a great honor to have been working on it. And as you know, it's all finalized and done. We've had a lot of terrifically talented people. We've had tremendous support from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar has been unbelievable -- unbelievable, Egypt, as you know and Jordan, Indonesia. I mean, I don't want to leave anybody out. Just so many different countries, it's been incredible. Nobody's seen anything like it. So, I think in a year from now, it's going to be great. I think it's going to be great.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Question: Mr. President, how do you rate your chances of winning the Nobel Peace Prize tomorrow, firstly?
Trump: Well, I don't know. Look, I made seven deals and now it's eight; solved the wars, one going for 31 years, one going 34 years, one going 35 years, one going 10 years. I made seven deals -- this would be number eight. The one I thought that I was going to make, and I think we will probably because it's a ridiculous war, it's a horrible war, the worst since World War II. You look at the people [Inaudible] Is Russia, Ukraine, I think we'll do that too. We've -- a lot of reasons for them to do it. And I think they'll be coming to the table pretty soon. But this was -- this is the biggest of them all. This is a big one, although I think India and Pakistan is very big, two nuclear nations. I made that -- I did that based on trade and because of the tariffs, if we didn't have tariffs, you wouldn't have been able to do it. But I said if you guys are going to fight, I'm putting 100 percent tariffs on each of you and they immediately stopped fighting.
And that was going to go nuclear, you know, that was back and forth. So, I know one thing -- I don't know what they're going to do really, but I know this, that nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months, and I've stopped eight wars. So, that's never happened before. But they'll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this, I didn't do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives. And that's the thing that bothers me so much about the Russia, Ukraine, 7,000 people are dying a week. Young soldiers, they're almost all soldiers of Ukraine and Russia. So, in theory, it doesn't affect us, no, but it's a terrible thing and we'll get that solved too. But nobody has ever done eight wars. Nobody's done eight wars in 30 years, let alone nine months.
Question: Are you going to step up --
Note: [Crosstalk]
Question: Are you going to step up the pressure for a Ukraine deal?
Trump: We are stepping up the pressure; we're stepping it up together. We're all stepping it up. NATO's been great. The leader of NATO, as you know, Mark, has been fantastic I think, and he's a fantastic guy and they are stepping it up. And we're selling a lot of weapons to NATO and that's going I guess to Ukraine for the most part. That's up to them, but they're buying weapons from the US. We make the greatest weapons in the world. You buy our planes and a lot of our equipment, and you have a big force actually, you have a tremendous force of equipment. So, I think we'll get that one done too.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Question: President Obama got it for way less. Mr. President, I'm from Finland.
Stubb: He's all right.
Trump: You look great, go ahead.
Question: You're buying icebreakers from Finland, but what if Russia and Vladimir Putin attacks Finland? Would you defend Finland?
Trump: I would -- yes, I would -- they're a member of NATO. I would -- they're great people, but I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think he's going to do that. I think the chances of that are very, very small. But it's very interesting because you have a very big military relative to your size. You have a very powerful military, one of the best. And -- but certainly we will be there to help.
Question: Thank you.
Trump: OK, please.
Question: Mr. President, thank you. We have a big border, as our president said. How would you exactly defend Finland and -- yeah. Thank you.
Trump: Say what?
Stubb: How would you defend Finland?
Trump: Vigorously.
Stubb: Can I just add on that? We are very pleased with the fact that we have so much training going on with American soldiers right now. So, they're getting experience from Arctic conditions and we're integrating our militaries together, working not only through the DCA agreement but other ways as well. We see that day to day in the work that we do and it's working well.
Trump: OK? Yes, please.
Question: Yeah. Thank you.
Trump: Where are you from?
Question: I'm from Finland too.
Stubb: Only Finns here.
Trump: We have a lot of them.
Stubb: Yeah, a lot of Finns.
Trump: It's very impressive. I like them better than our reporters actually. [Laughter]
Question: So, how do you see the situation in the Arctic developing? Are there going to be any mutual plans for Finland and US --
Note: [Crosstalk]
Trump: Well, we will. I mean, we have a lot of relationships together. I mean, mostly buying our military equipment. They buy a lot of it. They have an order, I guess, 60 planes, 60 --
Stubb: 64
Trump: 64 F-35s and many other things too. It's -- it's a big order. Big countries don't order that many plants. You know, it's --
Stubb: 10 million.
Trump: You have a lot of -- a lot of aircraft, a lot of great military. We make the best military equipment. They -- they buy a lot from us. So it's -- it's very good. We're going to work together very closely with Finland and with NATO. We have a very good relationship. As you know, I requested that they pay five percent, not two percent. And most people thought that was not going to happen and it happened virtually unanimously. We had one laggard. It was Spain, Spain. You have to call them and find out why are they a laggard, and they're doing well too. You know the funny thing, because of a lot of the things we've done, they're doing fine. They have no excuse not to do this, but that's all right. Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly.
Note: [Crosstalk]
Trump: Please, go ahead.
Question: What are you planning to do with --
Trump: Tall gentleman, nice, tall gentleman with the yellow shirt.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to change gears just really quickly and ask you you're going to Walter Reed tomorrow. What are you having done and how are you feeling?
Trump: I'm meeting with the troops and I'm also going to do a sort of semiannual physical, which I do. And I think I'm in great shape, but I'll let you know. But no, I have no difficulty thus far. Is there wood around here? I'll knock on it. No difficulty. Physically, I feel very good. Mentally, I feel very good. You know, I did, about six or seven months ago, I do physicals. I like to -- when I'm around, I like to check always early, always be early. It's a lesson for a lot of people, but I also did a cognitive exam, which is always very risky because if I didn't do well, you'd be the first to be blaring it, and I had a perfect score.
And one of the doctors said he's almost never seen a perfect score. I had a perfect -- a perfect score. I got the highest score. And that made me feel good. When they asked, would I like to do one? I said, yeah. I said, did Obama do it, no. Did Bush do it, no. Did Biden do it? I definitely -- Biden wouldn't have gotten the first three questions right. No Biden didn't do it. Biden should have done it. I'm actually a person that believes that if you're president, you should do a cognitive exam. But last time I took a cognitive exam and it was a perfect score. The doctors announced it. And by the way, not the easiest test. The first few questions are pretty easy. Once you get into the middle, it gets a little trickier and there aren't a lot of people in this room that would get every single question right, I can guarantee you.
Stubb: You're putting me in a difficult spot now. Next question.
Question: -- Peace Prize for way less than you did and Obama -- President Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize for way less.
Trump: He got a prize for doing nothing.
Question: Exactly.
Trump: Obama got a prize, he didn't even know what he got -- he got elected and they gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country. No, he was a -- he was not a good president. The worst president was Sleepy, Joe Biden, but Obama was not a good president.
Question: Are you going to do something with [Inaudible]
Trump: We gave him a prize. How many months after -- he won the election, then they gave the peace prize, right?
Unidentified: It was right afterwards. It was before he was elected.
Trump: My election was a much more important election.
Question: Now that you're fixing the situation with between Hamas and Israel, are you going to be taking care of the Hezbollah or the Lebanese Armed Forces to take care of Hezbollah?
Trump: Yeah, we'll be able to do that. That will be -- it's a smaller part of the puzzle, but very important part. They have a great new ambassador that I appointed, Michel, great new ambassador. So yeah, please.
Question: You're saying that the hostages will be released on Monday or Tuesday. What's your strict deadline? When do they have to get released? And how do you make sure each party abides by --
Trump: It' going to be around that time. Yeah, they're working on it very hard. They're in very diverse parts of -- of the Earth. OK? They're very, very diverse. Actually, it's -- I think they're going to come through. I'd be surprised if they didn't. I think it'll happen.
Question: Mr. President? Mr. President?
Trump: In the back.
Question: Thank you, sir. The 19th point of the 20-point plan said that in the future there could be conditions in which the Palestinians might eventually get a state. Under what conditions do you think the Palestinians could [Inaudible]
Trump: Well, we'll look at it at the time. And we're going to see how it all goes. And, you know, there's a point at which we may do something that would be a little bit different and maybe very positive for everybody. But we'll be looking at that at the time. And I think we'll get to that -- I think we'll get to that period too. Yeah, please. Yeah, please, glasses.
Question: Thank you. Mr. President, the United States has previously said that you -- you would be -- that Europe would have to take more responsibility for its own security. Are you or the US planning to withdraw some -- some of the US forces from the European soil?
Trump: No, but we may move some around a little bit. I'd ask you that question, Pete, go ahead.
Pete Hegseth: I think that's right, Mr. President. We're looking at -- we're very much heartened by your leadership to get NATO to rise up to five percent, which means they can take primary responsibility for defense of the continent. But that doesn't mean America is abandoning NATO in Europe, but we could look at where our troops are postured, what makes the most sense for America and our NATO allies.
Trump: We have a lot of troops in Europe, as you know, a lot, and we can move them around a little bit. But no, basically we'll be -- we'll be pretty much set. Go ahead, what's your second?
Question: My second question would be, are you planning to impose more sanctions on Russia at this point?
Trump: I might. Yeah, I might.
Question: Mr. President, your 20-point plan says we will encourage people to stay. Can you confirm that as Gaza is rebuilt, that no one will be forced to leave?
Trump: Yeah, nobody's going to be forced to leave. No, it's just the opposite. This is a great plan. This is a great peace plan. This is a plan that was supported by everybody. I mean, as I said, they're dancing in the streets of many, many countries right now. It's amazing. I've never seen anything like it. No, we're not looking to do that at all.
Question: And Mr. President, how soon do you think that we could see a full withdrawal?
Trump: Go ahead, please.
Question: Mr. President, can you cut through the politics on the shutdown? We had another failed vote today. Can you speak to our viewers from Orlando to Sacramento? What's your message to some of these families tonight facing missed paychecks, potential layoffs and missed benefits due to the shutdown?
Trump: I blame the Democrats. They ought to call their local Democrat representative, whether it's a Senator or a Congressman. And it's their fault. I mean, they admit it, it's their fault. They campaigned on the fact that they'd never shut down the country, but they wanted to shut it down and you know, we have the greatest economy. We're the hottest country in the world right now. I think you'd admit that, the hottest country. We went from a dead country a year ago to the hottest country in the world. So I think they probably don't like that. But we're doing great. I mean, we're doing great. I would say -- my message is call your local representative, Congressman or Senator, and tell them to get on the ball. The Democrats have caused this problem.
Question: Can I ask one more? One more. Congressman --
Trump: Yeah, please.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President.
Trump: Where are you from?
Question: I'm from Finland.
Trump: I love it. [Inaudible] so nice. Uh-oh, here we go. Here we go with a killer question.
Question: I would like to circle back to the icebreaker deal. So Finland and the US are strengthening their economic partnership through the deal.
Trump: Yeah.
Question: What other areas of cooperation with Finland do you see as possible at this moment?
Trump: That's a great question. We're going to be talking about that in a little while. We're going into the next-door room, commonly known as the Cabinet Room, beautiful room, and we're going to be discussing that. But we'll be doing other things. It's a wonderful country with wonderful people. We've had a long-term relationship but it's never been as close as it is now. We'll be doing other things. Go ahead.
Stubb: I mean, we've been talking about a lot with the president. I mean, two specific fields where I think Finland has strengths, one is quantum and quantum computing and we know that that is basically what gives food for thought for artificial intelligence. That's very important. The second one is actually networks. And you know that there are two sort of safe and trustworthy Western networks right now. One of them is Nokia and the other one is Ericsson. And actually, 70 percent of all broadband in the United States is Nokia. So one of the things that we could work on together is creating the 6G space through networks and we actually -- Nokia has 7,000 people working here in the United States and an American CEO.
Trump: OK. Anybody else?
Question: Mr. President? What is the international stabilization force that's going to deploy to Gaza? What is that going to look like?
Trump: To be determined, really, to -- I think there's going to be a large group of people determining what it will be and a group of people funding it that are very rich countries, are going to be funding it. People want to see this work. It's going to work. It's absolutely going to work and it starts -- it's already started. We've -- we've signed, as you know. Everybody's agreed. I think Monday is going to be a very big day, Monday, Tuesday. But it's going to be -- depending on where you are, it's going to be a very big day. I think it's going to be a day of great celebration. There's -- I've never seen anything like it. The streets of so many countries right now, they're just roaring with love and with -- with praise for the people that did this. And these are countries that did this -- the whole world came together for this, even Iran, and I really thank them for it. Iran came out and said this is a good thing. This is a very good thing. So it was terrific. It's been a terrific experience for me. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.