Finnish president Stubb warns of split in transatlantic ties
U.S. President Donald Trump hosts the leaders of Ukraine and Finland, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Alexander Stubb, at the White House, August 18, 2025 (Photo: Reuters)
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said a rift has emerged in the transatlantic partnership, in an interview with Politico published on March 27.
“Judging by everything, we are seeing not a break, but a split in the transatlantic partnership,” he said.
According to the Finnish leader, the Global North is taking on the role of defender of the liberal world order. At the same time, “countries of the Global West are becoming more like the United States, which is more deal-oriented.”
“This is simply reality,” Alexander Stubb added.
A few months ago, Finland’s president published a book in which he emphasized that the “Global West” — Europe and America — would defend the values of the liberal world order, Politico noted.
However, in his view, the United States under President Donald Trump is no longer interested in this.
Stubb also shared his view on whether European allies should rally to help the U.S. president in the Middle East, as he had requested. At the same time, as Politico noted, he echoed Trump’s position that Ukraine is not a U.S. problem.
“Iran is not my war, my war is Ukraine,” the Finnish president said.
He also said Europe should not get involved in the war with Iran while hostilities are ongoing. If Trump needs help maintaining peace in the Strait of Hormuz, it could be discussed later.
On March 20, U.S. President Donald Trump said that “without the United States, NATO is a paper tiger” and criticized allies for not joining the U.S. war against Iran.
“Cowards — and we will remember this!” Trump wrote.
Trump also said the United States does not need help from NATO allies in the war against the Iranian regime and added that he “always knew the alliance would never help the United States.”
“However, I am not surprised by their actions, as I have always considered NATO, on which we spend hundreds of billions of dollars annually to defend these same countries, a one-way street — we will defend them, but they will do nothing for us, especially in difficult times,” the White House said on March 17.
On March 26, Trump again lashed out at NATO over the war with Iran, threatening to “never forget” the alliance’s actions.
The same day, responding to remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the war in Iran, Trump said the United States had helped Ukraine despite the fact that “it is not our war.”
“I heard the German leader say, ‘This is not our war regarding Iran,’ and I responded: ‘Well, Ukraine is not our war either.’ We provided assistance, but Ukraine is not our war. I thought that was a very inappropriate statement, but he made it, and it cannot be taken back,” the U.S. president said.
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