{"id":331276,"date":"2026-04-19T12:27:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/its-more-shouting-finlands-president-says-hes-not-exactly-a-trump-whisperer.html"},"modified":"2026-04-19T12:27:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:27:28","slug":"its-more-shouting-finlands-president-says-hes-not-exactly-a-trump-whisperer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/its-more-shouting-finlands-president-says-hes-not-exactly-a-trump-whisperer.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s more shouting\u2019: Finland\u2019s president says he\u2019s not exactly a \u2018Trump whisperer\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alexander Stubb has been called Europe\u2019s &#8220;Trump whisperer&#8221; in some circles, but according to the Finnish president, that\u2019s not quite accurate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;President Trump has very much his own mind. If I get one idea out of 10, I&#8217;m very happy, but quite rarely is it a whispering \u2014 it&#8217;s more shouting that happens, and that\u2019s absolutely fine,&#8221; Stubb said.<\/p>\n<p>The first-hand insight into what Stubb calls a working relationship with the U.S. president was just one of many revelations he shared in an interview with CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton.<\/p>\n<p>Stubb was in Ottawa this week for his first official bilateral meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Finland&#8217;s president on why he believes Canada could \u2014 eventually \u2014 be part of the EU<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;It is clear that you never agree on everything. So I just think it&#8217;s important in diplomacy you have to engage, even if sometimes it feels quite uncomfortable,\u201d Stubb said when asked about navigating conversations with Trump.<\/p>\n<p>And while he may not think the whisperer moniker is accurate, the Finnish president clearly appears to have Trump\u2019s ear.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve been friends for a long time,&#8221; Trump remarked during Stubb\u2019s visit to the White House in October 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"imageMedia image full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Two people sit on chairs and talk in a large room.\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/3d5b45ad_default.jpg\" data-cy=\"image-img\" \/><figcaption class=\"image-caption\">Finland&#8217;s President Alexander Stubb sits down with CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton during an interview in Ottawa. Stubb was in Ottawa this week for his first official bilateral meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.<!-- --> <!-- -->(Raphael Tremblay\/CBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The pair have golfed together at Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and according to Stubb, they message each other quite frequently.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Among the topics the pair have discussed is Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, Stubb said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u2018We need to turn the tide\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Finland, which shares a 1,300-kilometre border with Russia <!-- -->\u2014 the longest among NATO and EU members \u2014 <!-- -->joined the NATO alliance in 2023, following the Kremlin&#8217;s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since then, Stubb has become an influential voice of support for Ukraine\u2019s war effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now, with the response to that full-scale invasion well into its fourth year, he believes Ukraine is in a stronger position than at any point since 2022. A large part of Ukraine\u2019s advantage, as Stubb describes it, is the successful emergence of its drone warfare capabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Stubb said Russian soldiers are dying at a rate five times higher than Kyiv\u2019s, largely due to Ukraine\u2019s steadily improving drone kill rates. While the five-to-one-ratio may be slightly inflated, the data shows Russian casualties are still outpacing Ukraine&#8217;s.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><u>January report published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies<\/u><\/a> found that the ratio of Ukrainian combat casualties and fatalities to Russia\u2019s was roughly 1:2.5 or 1:2.<\/p>\n<p>And for the first time since 2023, in February Ukraine gained more territory than it lost, <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><u>according to the Finland-based Black Bird Group analysis team.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We need to turn the tide. This is not anymore about giving alimony to Ukraine. We have to think about it the other way around. Can we afford to keep Ukraine outside [NATO] in the sense that they now have the greatest military know-how,\u201d said Stubb.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"imageMedia image full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A city on fire.\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/e6b08290_default.jpg\" data-cy=\"image-img\" \/><figcaption class=\"image-caption\">Smoke rises after a Russian air strike on Kyiv in June 2025. Russia has been targeting Ukrainian cities with Iranian-made Shahed drones, and more recently their own version, since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, making the Ukrainians experts in counter-drone measures.<!-- --> <!-- -->(Evgeniy Maloletka\/The Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He pointed to Ukraine\u2019s recent decision to deploy 228 experts to assist in fighting against Iran&#8217;s Shahed drones in multiple Middle Eastern countries. <\/p>\n<p>Russia has been launching Iranian-made Shaheds, and more recently their own version of the fixed-winged drones, at Ukrainian cities since the full-scale invasion began \u2014 sometimes hundreds in a single night.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Zelenskyy says Ukrainian forces shot down Shahed drones in Middle East during Iran war<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re showing that in the Gulf region [they&#8217;re] defending the Gulf states from Iran, and I hope the Americans understand and see this,&#8221; said Stubb.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"imageMedia image full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Two men on a golf course smile for the camera.\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/86ff4d59_default.jpg\" data-cy=\"image-img\" \/><figcaption class=\"image-caption\">U.S. President Donald Trump golfs with Finland&#8217;s President Alexander Stubb at Trump&#8217;s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.<!-- --> <!-- -->(truthsocial.com\/RealDonaldTrump)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It appears the U.S. is in fact taking notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After initially rejecting offers of Ukrainian counter-drone support following its attack on Iran in February, the Trump administration has since reversed course, acknowledging Iran\u2019s Shahed <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><u>drones pose a significant challenge to U.S. air defences, and accepting Ukraine\u2019s aid.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But that doesn\u2019t mean the U.S. sees a future where Ukraine is in NATO.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 2025, Trump expressed firm opposition to Ukraine\u2019s desire to join NATO and pressured Kyiv to abandon membership hopes as part of a ceasefire with Russia. That ceasefire never came to fruition.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One thing that is certain, for Stubb at least, is that the Russian threat to NATO is &#8220;not going away.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So what then gives us comfort?&#8221; he asked Barton.\u00a0&#8220;In my mind, it&#8217;s Ukraine.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Article source: https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/finland-president-not-exactly-trump-whisperer-9.7167080?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alexander Stubb has been called Europe\u2019s &#8220;Trump whisperer&#8221; in some circles, but according to the Finnish president, that\u2019s not quite accurate.\u00a0 &#8220;President Trump has very much his own mind. If I get one idea out of 10, I&#8217;m very happy, but quite rarely is it a whispering \u2014 it&#8217;s more shouting that happens, and that\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-331276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}