{"id":1955,"date":"2024-07-18T00:44:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T00:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/?p=1955"},"modified":"2024-07-18T22:51:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T22:51:53","slug":"us-canada-and-finland-form-ice-pact-to-project-influence-into-arctic-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/2024\/07\/18\/us-canada-and-finland-form-ice-pact-to-project-influence-into-arctic-region\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Canada and Finland form \u2018Ice Pact\u2019 to project influence into Arctic region"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Partnership could produce up to 90 icebreaker ships to counter Russian and Chinese inroads into region<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"614\" src=\"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/6603-1024x614.avif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1956\" srcset=\"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/6603-1024x614.avif 1024w, https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/6603-300x180.avif 300w, https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/6603-768x461.avif 768w, https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/6603-1536x922.avif 1536w, https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/6603-500x300.avif 500w, https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/6603.avif 1900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica sails through sea ice along the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic in 2017. Photograph: David Goldman\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Canada, the United States and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/finland\">Finland<\/a> say a newly announced \u201cIce Pact\u201d to build a fleet of polar icebreaker ships will challenge China\u2019s control of the market as nations scramble for influence in the Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The deal, announced during the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/nato\">Nato<\/a> summit in Washington, could see as many as 90 icebreaker ships produced by the three countries in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs leaders of Arctic nations, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/canada\">Canada<\/a>, Finland and the United States, recognizing the enduring importance of the region to our collective economic, climate and national security, we resolve to deepen our cooperation to ensure the polar and Arctic regions remain peaceful, cooperative and prosperous,\u201d Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, said in a statement on Thursday. \u201cOver the next six months, we also will jointly develop an implementation plan for this collaboration to build these highly complex and critical vessels for our allies and partners with interests and responsibilities in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort \u2013 or Ice Pact \u2013 Canada would build two polar icebreakers in Vancouver and a fleet of six from shipyards in Quebec.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amid a rapidly changing climate in the Arctic, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/russia\">Russia<\/a> and China have expressed an interest in new polar routes for both trade and military purposes, prompting wariness from Nato countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, the two countries signed an agreement to cooperate in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/arctic\">Arctic<\/a>. Russia currently has the largest Arctic fleet, its 40 ships far outpacing both the US and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Ice Pact will reinforce the message to Russia and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/china\">China<\/a> that the United States and its allies intend to \u2026 doggedly pursue collaboration on industrial policy to increase our competitive edge in strategic industries like shipbuilding, to build a world-class polar icebreaking fleet at scale,\u201d a senior US official told reporters.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/article\/2024\/jul\/11\/us-canada-finland-ice-pact-arctic#EmailSignup-skip-link-8\">skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWithout this arrangement, we\u2019d risk our adversaries developing an advantage in a specialized technology with vast geostrategic importance, which could also allow them to become the preferred supplier for countries that also have an interest in purchasing polar icebreakers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Partnership could produce up to 90 icebreaker ships to counter Russian and Chinese inroads into region<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cooperation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1957,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955\/revisions\/1957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}