Finland–United States relations

Finland and the United States currently have good relations. The United States was one of the first countries to recognize Finland after it declared independence in 1917, and officially established diplomatic relations in 1920. Due to World War II and Soviet pressure, relations were suspended between 1942 and 1945 before being raised to embassy level in 1954. Finland has been of strategic importance to the United States due to its position bordering the Soviet Union and later Russia, and after the end of the Cold War in 1991 Finland's shift to the West has led to warmer relations. There is significant trade activity, including military procurement, between the two countries. The United States supported Finlanď's NATO membership during Finland's accession into NATO, which was finalized on 4 April 2023.

Finland – United States relations

Finland	United States
Diplomatic mission
Embassy of Finland, Washington, D.C.	Embassy of the United States, Helsinki

History

 

Finnish President Urho Kekkonen with U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1961

 

President Ronald Reagan with Finnish President Mauno Koivisto in The Rose Garden 1983

 

Finnish President Tarja Halonen with Obama in 2009

 

U.S. President Joe Biden and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in the Oval Office, 2022

 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto in Reykjavik, 2021

 

Postage stamp celebrating the 350th anniversary of Finnish settlements in America

Diplomatic relations between the governments of Finland and the United States were established in 1920 at a legation level.^[1]

During the Second World War, although the Finnish government co-operated with the Axis Powers, relations were maintained. The U.S. government resisted Soviet pressures to declare war on Finland, but on June 30, 1944, it agreed to sever diplomatic relations with the Finnish government. After Finland had withdrawn from the war and acted against German troops in early 1945, the U.S. government reopened its legation in Helsinki on March 1, 1945. On August 20, 1945, negotiations were started between the two governments on re-establishing diplomatic relations, which was done on August 31.^[2]

Relations between the two countries were raised to embassy level on September 10, 1954.^{[citation needed]}

Relations between the United States and Finland are warm. Some 270,000 U.S. citizens visit Finland annually, and about 6,000 U.S. citizens are residents there.^{[citation needed]} The U.S. has an educational exchange program in Finland that is comparatively large for a Western European country of Finland's size. It is financed in part from a trust fund established in 1976 from Finland's final repayment of a U.S. loan made in the aftermath of World War I.^{[citation needed]}

Finland is bordered on the east by Russia and, as one of the former Soviet Union's neighbors, has been of particular interest and importance to the U.S. both during the Cold War and in its aftermath. Before the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, longstanding U.S. policy was to support Finnish neutrality and to maintain and reinforce Finland's historic, cultural, and economic ties with the West. The U.S. has welcomed Finland's increased participation since 1991 in Western economic and political structures.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, Anneli Jäätteenmäki of the Centre Party won the elections after she had accused her rival, Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, of allying neutral Finland with the United States in the Iraq War during a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush and thus associated Finland with what many Finns considered an illegal war of aggression. Lipponen denied the claims and declared, "We support the UN and the UN Secretary-General". Jäätteenmäki resigned as prime minister after 63 days in office amid accusations that she had lied about the leak of the documents about the meeting between Bush and Lipponen. That series of events was considered scandalous and it is named Iraq leak, or Iraqgate.^[3]

Economic and trade relations between Finland and the United States are active and were bolstered by the F-18 Hornet purchase. U.S.–Finland trade totals almost $5 billion annually. The U.S. receives about 7% of Finland's exports – mainly pulp and paper, ships, machinery, electronics, instruments, and refined petroleum products^[4] – and provides about 7% of its imports – principally computers, semiconductors, aircraft, machinery. U.S. President Joe Biden approved the NATO membership of Finland and Sweden in August 2022.^[5] Principal U.S.

The Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA-Treaty) between Finland and United States approved The agreement was ratified in the Washington, D.C., signed by the Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen with Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen and US Secretary Anthony Blinken, agreement entered into force on 18 December 2023.

The agreement regulates the presence of the US armed forces and their dependents on the territory of the Finland, as well as the presence and activities of US suppliers on the territory of the Finland.

• Ambassador – Doug Hickey^[6]
• Deputy Chief of Mission – Christopher M Krafft
• Public Affairs Counselor – Susan Bridenstine
• Political-Economic Section Chief – Dew Tiantawach
• Management Affairs – Todd Bate-Poxon
• Commercial Section – Nicholas Kuchova
• Defense Attache – Colonel Scott Shugato
• Consular Officer – Susan Carl
• Regional Security Officer – Rick Gregory
• Agricultural Officer – Steve Huete (resident in The Hague)

•  
  Embassy of the United States in Helsinki
•  
  Embassy of Finland in Washington, D.C.

President Joe Biden visited Helsinki on July 12, 2023^[7] and met with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö^[8] and leaders of other Nordic nations, including Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The purpose was to celebrate^[9] Finland joining the NATO.

Visits of United States Presidents to Finland

 

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump with President Sauli Niinistö and Jenni Haukio at the Mäntyniemi Residence in 2018

 

Presidents Joe Biden and Sauli Niinistö in press Conference at the Presidential Palace of Finland in Helsinki, Finland in July 2023

During 1975–2023 six presidents of the United States have visited Finland. Of them, George H. W. Bush visited Finland twice. Basic facts of these visits are given in the table below. In some cases, the table contains only the arrival date.^[10]

In addition to this, Barack Obama visited Finland during 26–27 September 2019. He gave a talk at the Nordic Business Forum.^[11]

Visits of United States Presidents to Finland
No	Year	Date	Visitor	Host	Reason for the visit
1.	1975	29 July	Gerald Ford	Urho Kekkonen	CSCE
2.	1988	26–29 May	Ronald Reagan	Mauno Koivisto	Stop on the way to Moscow to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev
3.	1990	8 September	George H. W. Bush	Mauno Koivisto	Meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev in Helsinki
4.	1992	8 July	George H. W. Bush	Mauno Koivisto	CSCE
5.	1997	20 March	Bill Clinton	Martti Ahtisaari	Meeting with Boris Yeltsin in Helsinki
6.	2018	15–16 July	Donald Trump	Sauli Niinistö	Meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki
7.	2023	13–14 July	Joe Biden	Sauli Niinistö	Meeting with Niinistö Meeting with Nordic prime ministers

Visits of Finland Presidents to United States
No	Year	Date	Visitor	Host	Reason for the visit
1.	1961	16–18 October	Urho Kekkonen	John F. Kennedy	Meeting with John F. Kennedy
2.	1970	23–25 July	Urho Kekkonen	Richard Nixon	Meeting with Richard Nixon
3.	1970	24 October	Urho Kekkonen	Richard Nixon	Attended White House dinner on 25th Anniversary of the U.N
4.	1976	3–5 August	Urho Kekkonen	Gerald R. Ford	Meeting with Gerald R. Ford
5.	1983	24–27 September	Mauno Koivisto	Ronald Reagan	Meeting with Ronald Reagan
6.	1991	6–8 May	Mauno Kivisto	George H. W. Bush	Meeting with George H. W. Bush
7.	1994	8–10 November	Martti Ahtisaari	Bill Clinton	Meeting with Bill Clinton
8.	1999	16–17 December	Martti Ahtisaari	Bill Clinton	Meeting with Bill Clinton
9.	2000	28 April	Tarja Halonen	Bill Clinton	Meeting with Bill Clinton
10.	2002	16 April	Tarja Halonen	George W. Bush	Meeting with Bill Clinton
11.	2016	13 May	Sauli Niinistö	Barack Obama	Meeting with Barack Obama Meeting with Nordic prime ministers
12.	2017	28 August	Sauli Niinistö	Donald Trump	Meeting with Donald Trump
13.	2019	1–3 October	Sauli Niinistö	Donald Trump	Meeting with Donald Trump
14.	2022	4 March	Sauli Niinistö	Joe Biden	Meeting with Joe Biden
15.	2022	19 May	Sauli Niinistö	Joe Biden	Meeting with Joe Biden Meeting with Swedish prime minister Magdalena Andersson
16.	2023	6–10 March	Sauli Niinistö	Joe Biden	Meeting with Joe Biden

Gallery

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  A town of Finnish immigrants in Northern Michigan
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  Finnish Congregational Church and Parsonage in South Thomaston, Maine, United States
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  Finland and USA are very at the same level in ice hockey and the matches between the two have always been entertaining
•  
  Finland, Minnesota is a village founded by immigrants of Finnish origin

Embassies

The Embassy of the United States is located in Helsinki, Finland. The Embassy of Finland is located in Washington, D.C.

Public opinion

According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 48% of Finnish people approve of U.S. leadership, with 34% disapproving and 18% uncertain.^[12]

Cultural exchange between the United States and Finland

The League of Finnish-American Societies (Finnish: Suomi-Amerikka Yhdistysten Liitto) is a non-profit organization promoting cultural exchange between countries which operates in Finland. It has around 30 chapters in Finland, e.g. those in Helsinki, Turku, Oulu and Kuopio.^[13]

See also

• Foreign relations of Finland
• Foreign relations of the United States
• Accession of Finland to NATO
• Finnish Americans
• US–EU relations
• Finland–NATO relations
• European Union–NATO relations

References

1. K. Marianne Wargelin Brown, "Finnish Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2014), pp. 137-151.
2. Department of State Bulletin, September 2, 1945, p. 339
3. "Former Finnish premier is cleared over Iraq papers leak". The Independent. 20 March 2004.
4. Finnish Customs statistics for 2006. http://www.tulli.fi/resources/tekstiversio.jsp?pageoid=24045 2008-01-20 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Biden signs ratification documents approving NATO membership for Finland and Sweden". CNBC. 9 August 2022.
6. ""President Biden Announces Key Nominations"". www.whitehouse.gov. 8 October 2021.
7. "Biden in Europe highlights: President touts Finland's NATO membership after summit". NBC News. 2023-07-13. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
8. "Biden in Finland: Putin 'already lost' Ukraine war – DW – 07/13/2023". dw.com. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
9. Rasmussen, Sune Engel; Michaels, Daniel; Restuccia, Andrew (2023-07-13). "Biden Visit Cements Finland's Pivot Away From Neutrality". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
10. Hämäläinen, Unto (13 July 2023). "Seitsemän vierailua Suomeen" [‘Seven visits to Finland’]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Helsinki: Sanoma. pp. A 8–10. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
11. "Nordic Business Forum 2018". Nordic Business Forum. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
12. U.S. Global Leadership Project Report - 2012 Gallup
13. "In English - Suomi-Amerikka Yhdistysten Liitto". SAM. Retrieved 10 December 2022.

  This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.

Further reading

• Fields, Marek. "Reinforcing Finland's Attachment to the West: British and American Propaganda and Cultural Diplomacy in Finland, 1944-1962." (2015). Abstract
• Golubev, Alexey, and Irina Takala. The Search for a Socialist El Dorado: Finnish Immigration to Soviet Karelia from the United States and Canada in the 1930s (MSU Press, 2014)
• Hasan, Ali Ghafil. "US-Finland Economic Relations 1917-1945." Eurasian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 2 (2021): 28-34. online

• Jakobson, Max. The diplomacy of the winter war: an account of the Russo-Finnish War, 1939-1940 (Harvard Univ Press, 1961.)
• Rislakki, Jukka, "`Without Mercy': U.S. Strategic Intelligence and Finland in the Cold War," Journal of Military History, (Jan. 2015) 79#1 pp: 127–49.
• Schwartz, Andrew J. America and the Russo-Finnish War (Public Affairs Press, 1960)
• Wargelin Brown, K. Marianne. "Finnish Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2014), pp. 137–151. online

External links

• History of Finland - U.S. relations

  Media related to Relations of Finland and the United States at Wikimedia Commons