Finland – United States relations

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

TheUnited States of America and theRepublic of Finland currently have good relations. The United States recognized Finland on May 7, 1919 after it declared independence in 1917, and officially established diplomatic relations in 1920. Due toWorld 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 theCold 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 Finland'sNATO membership during Finland'saccession into NATO, which was finalized on 4 April 2023, and later that year, the two countries entered into aDefense Cooperation Agreement. Currently, both countries are members ofNATO and theArctic Council. The United States is an observer of theBEAC andCBSS while Finland is a member of them.

In 1776, an importantSigner of theUnited States Declaration of Independence,John Morton, was the descendant of early Finnish pioneers who had foundedNew Sweden colony on theDelaware in 1638. EthnicFinns, including “Forest Finns” who had been temporarily resettled to useslash-and-burn agriculture to clear parts ofSweden proper likeVärmland, would account for the majority of permanent settlers who moved on to America: Finnish trailblazers transplantedlog cabinarchitecture fromTavastia,Savo andKarelia, which would become icons ofAmerican frontier culture in theThirteen Colonies andearly United States, such as theNothnagle Log House.^[1][2]

In 2003,Anneli Jäätteenmäki, leader of theCentre Party, won the Finnish parliamentary election. During the campaign, she accused the incumbent Prime Minister,Paavo Lipponen, of aligning neutral Finland with the United States in theIraq War following a meeting with U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush. This accusation was based on confidential foreign ministry documents that suggested Finnish cooperation with the U.S.-led coalition, which many Finns considered an illegal war of aggression. Lipponen denied the claims, affirming Finland's support for theUnited Nations and its Secretary-General.

Jäätteenmäki's government, formed after the election, lasted only 63 days. She resigned amid allegations that she had misled Parliament regarding the manner in which she obtained the leaked documents. Jäätteenmäki received the documents from PresidentTarja Halonen’s adviser, Martti Manninen. The scandal, widely referred to in Finland as the "Iraq leak".^[3][4]

The number of travelers from the United States to Finland has been steadily increasing, amounting to between 200,000 and 380,000 visitors each year.^[5]

In 2019,Finnish Air Force andUSSPACECOM signed a Memorandum of Understanding between Finland and the United States on space situational awareness cooperation in Helsinki, Finland. These agreements foster openness, predictability of space operations, and transparency for space domain awareness.

On August 3, 2022, theU.S. Senate unanimously approved Finland andSweden's accession bids to joinNATO.^[6]U.S. President Joe Biden approved the NATO membership of Finland and Sweden in August 2022.^[7]

On December 18, 2023, the US (represented byAntony Blinken) and Finland (represented byAntti Häkkänen andElina Valtonen) signed aDefense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) inWashington, D.C.^[8][9]

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.^[10]

President Joe Biden visited Helsinki on July 12, 2023 and met with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and leaders of other Nordic nations, including Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The purpose was to celebrate Finland joining the NATO.^[11][12][13]

During the second term ofUS PresidentDonald Trump,Finnish PresidentAlexander Stubb established a good personal rapport with Trump over their shared interest ingolf, with the United States committing to purchaseicebreakers from Finland in March 2025.^[14] To this trust experts attributed the American invitation of the Finnish President to participate in talks at theAugust 2025 White House Multilateral Meeting on Ukraine, making Finland the only small country represented at the high-stakes summit in Washington alongside the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Ukraine, the EU, and NATO.^[15][16]

The increasing importance of close relations between Finland and the United States was further evidenced by the announcement that a third meeting between Presidents Stubb and Trump - for the first time accompanied byFinnish Prime MinisterPetteri Orpo - was scheduled to take place over a two-day visit by Finnish officials to meet with American officials to discuss a variety of topics at theWhite House in October 2025.^[17]

TheUnited States Ambassador to Finland isHoward Brodie. The currentFinnish Ambassador to the United States isLeena-Kaisa Mikkola, who began her posting in September 2024.^[18][19]

In 2024, the United States' share of Finland's exports was about 9.6% and of imports 5.0%, and the United States was Finland's third largest export country and sixth largest import country.^[20]

Finland's exports to the U.S. in 2024 were around $10.1 billion, including chemicals, machinery (except electrical), petroleum and coal products, paper, and electronic products. Meanwhile, U.S. exports to Finland were about $4.5 billion, mainly oil and gas, electronics, chemicals, minerals, and transportation equipment.^[21]

During 1975–2023 sixpresidents 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.^[22]

In addition to this,Barack Obama visited Finland during 26–27 September 2019. He gave a talk at theNordic Business Forum.^[23]

• 
  A town of Finnish immigrants in Northern Michigan
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  Finnish Congregational Church and Parsonage inSouth Thomaston, Maine, United States
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  Finland andUSA are very at the same level inice hockey and the matches between the two have always been entertaining
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  Finland, Minnesota is a village founded by immigrants of Finnish origin
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  Finnish Air Force Hawker Hurricane warbird withUS Navy T-6 Texan warbird in Finland

TheEmbassy of the United States is located inHelsinki. TheEmbassy of Finland is located inWashington, D.C.

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

According to theMeridian International Center andGallup'sU.S.-Global Leadership Project, as of 2012, 48% ofFinnish people approved of U.S. leadership, with 34% disapproving and 18% uncertain.^[24]

Finland–United States relations on Arctic issues are strong. Addressing these issues is normally done through theArctic Council, as both countries believe it to be the leading way of cooperation on Arctic issues.

At the2024 NATO summit, on 11 July 2024, it was decided that theUnited States,Canada andFinland are to form theICE Pact, in which Finland will serve as the majority builder oficebreaker vessels.^[25][26]

In October 2025,Alexander Stubb andDonald Trump sign a memorandum of understanding about "icebreaker cooperation".^[27][28]

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 inHelsinki,Turku,Oulu andKuopio.^[29]

Finnish Americans celebrateFinnFest USA, a festival held annually in the United States on the occasion ofmidsummer.^[30]

• Foreign relations of Finland
• Foreign relations of the United States
• US–EU relations
• NATO-EU relations
• Agreement on Defense Cooperation between Finland and the United States of America
• Finnish Americans

 This article incorporatespublic domain material fromU.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets.United States Department of State.

• Fields, Marek. "Reinforcing Finland's Attachment to the West: British and American Propaganda and Cultural Diplomacy in Finland, 1944-1962." (2015).Abstract
• Golubev, Alexey, andIrina 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

• History of Finland - U.S. relations

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