NEWS ANALYSIS: Norwegian diplomats and politicians have been mounting what commentators call a “charm offensive” in the US for months, to secure Norway’s interests in deeply troubled times. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre appeared ready this week to charm but also talk sense to US President Donald Trump himself, with back-up from Norway’s former NATO chief who’s widely believed to have helped open some doors.
The meeting was confirmed when most of Norway was still off on the country’s long Easter holiday period, and it came together quite quickly, according to Støre: “We sent a request for a meeting in early April, and it took a week before we received an invitation.”
Støre has since revealed his agenda for the meeting with Trump at the White House on Thursday. He clearly intends to stress the positive aspects of Norway’s longtime bilateral relation with the US, after three months of Trump trauma and trade threats.
“There are strong ties between Norway and the USA,” Støre said earlier this week, claiming that the US remains “our most important ally.” Close contact between the two countries also remains “very important,” he stressed, not least in troubled times.
Accompanying Støre to the meeting is his old friend and new finance minister Jens Stoltenberg, the former NATO secretary general who managed to get along with Trump and was invited to Trump’s inauguration. Stoltenberg has publicly offered tips on how to handle Trump and his presence can provide strong back-up for Støre, maybe even put Trump in a better mood.
Støre is now Stoltenberg’s boss, in a role-reversal from the years 2005 to 2013 when Stoltenberg was Norway’s prime minister and Støre was his foreign minister. Støre is known for his skills as a multi-lingual professional diplomat who also took over as health minister at Stoltenberg’s request. The two have remained friends and political partners since long before that.
There’s no question that having Stoltenberg by his side will be a strength during an encounter with the unpredictable Trump. Støre felt it necessary, however, to stress that Stoltenberg was already due to be in Washington DC this week, to take part in meetings at the World Bank and The International Monetary Fund. “It’s not unnatural to have government ministers along at such meetings (like that with Trump),” Støre said at a press conference in Oslo on Tuesday. “On this occasion it was natural to have the finance minister along.”
Not least since Trump initially slapped Norway with a punitive tariff calculated at 16 percent when the highly controversial US president launched an international trade war last month that sent stock markets diving around the world. Trump later backed down when faced with plunging also his own country into a recession that would surely have his name forever attached to it: He postponed implementation of the tariffs for 90 days and lowered most of them to 10 percent (also for Norway) but he maintained his tariff assaults on neighbouring Mexico and Canada (also a NATO ally) and kept them at 25 percent for aluminum and steel and on all imports of cars and car parts.
“It’s natural that tariffs and trade will be an important theme” at his meeting with Trump, Støre said, but he doesn’t view the meeting with Trump as a potential negotiating session. He stressed that Norway’s view (that tariffs are bad for the world economy) is well-known and he’ll also point out that Norway has a low tariff on imports from the US. Norway hasn’t slapped US imports with the same 10 percent tariff and can, like his predecessor Erna Solberg did during Trump’s first term as president, stress how Norway contributes to the US economy and that the US arguably has a trade surplus with Norway.
Security and defense top Norway’s agenda
Støre told reporters in Oslo on Tuesday, meanwhile, that topping his agenda at the Trump meeting is security and defense policy, followed by the ongoing “situation” in Ukraine. Both Støre and Stoltenberg have been firm supporters of Ukraine and its president, Volodomyr Zelensky, whom Trump yelled at and tried to humiliate during an earlier and infamous meeting at the White House. Trump’s behaviour at that meeting, along with that of his top aides, was widely condemned in Norway. Støre was also recently included in another high-level EU meeting, at which increased defense spending and support for Ukraine was affirmed.
In addition to urging ongoing support for Ukraine during their meeting with Trump, the Norwegians planned to emphasize their role in patrolling Arctic areas and intelligence gathering, and how important that is for the US. “We (Norway and the US) are both members of NATO,” Støre said earlier this week, “but there’s also a bilateral relation between our two countries, much of it tied to the situation in the Northern (Arctic) areas.” High-level contact is extra-important when the security situation is as uneasy as it is now, he said.
“It’s worth reminding (Trump and other US officials) that what we monitor in the north is something that also, to the highest degree, directly affects US security policy,” Støre said at a press conference. Trump’s interest in, and recent threats against, Greenland have also received widespread coverage in Norway, not least because of the close ties between Greenland and Denmark, another NATO ally who’s received rough and disrespectful treatment from Trump. That’s raised concerns about Norway’s ongoing sovereignty over Svalbard, and it’s likely no coincidence that a large delegation from the Norwegian Parliament was heading for Svalbard this week.
Seeking clarity over Russia’s role
It’s “the situation in Ukraine,” though, that most concerns Støre and Stoltenberg as they stress Ukraine’s ongoing need for support. Stoltenberg repeatedly stated during his time as NATO’s boss that the alliance must continue to provide military assistance to Ukraine “for as long as it takes.” Both he and Støre now seek what Støre calls the need for “a more clear position” on Russia.
“Here’s where Norway can also contribute, with the experience we have as a neighbour to Russia,” Støre told reporters. He noted that Norway has had “an orderly relation” with Russia throughout the years, also during the Cold War. Norway also “has experience with acting consistently and clearly towards Russia,” Støre said.
The vast majority of European countries, Støre stressed, seek a firmer position that Russia mustn’t be allowed to benefit from its invasion of a neighbour. Norway is among those still promising ongoing military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, backed by Norway’s huge sovereign wealth fund known as the Oil Fund.
It’s that fund that likely has sparked Trump’s attention regarding Norway, since it makes Norway a very wealthy nation with the economic power that implies. Støre, like his predecessor Erna Solberg of the Norwegian Conservative Party, can rightly portray Norway as a major investor in American businesses: More than half of the Oil Fund’s investments, now worth around 10,000-billion Norwegian kroner, are invested in the US.
Many Norwegian businesses have also invested heavily in the US’ defense industry, fertilizer and aluminum production and energy. Norway’s largest company Equinor, grounded in its offshore oil and gas industry, was stunned, however, just before the Easter holidays to learn that the Trump Administration wants to shut down its large and expensive wind power project off New York. That doesn’t exactly encourage other Norwegian companies to invest in the US.
Stoltenberg, meanwhile, was set to arrive at the White House straight from meetings at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund based on turbulent economic times. “There is great uncertainty now,” Stoltenberg told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Wednesday. He pointed to turbulence on international stock exchanges and the ongoing threat of trade wars among the world’s largest economies.
“That’s the background for the meetings at the IMF and those we will have at the White House,” Stoltenberg said. “Meetings with the US president are always useful, especially in the uneasy times we’re experiencing now.”
Stoltenberg said the meeting with Trump presents “an opportunity for us to show that it’s not only the US that’s important for Europe and of course Norway, but that Norway is also in fact important for the US.” Støre will be the latest European prime minister to meet with Trump, after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited the White House on April 17. Støre confirmed he had spoken with Meloni after her visit, also with “my Nordic and European colleagues” who’ve also met Trump, and called their talks part of his “useful” preparations.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund