Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre hosted a closed-door summit with eight leaders of Norway’s biggest companies this week, as they all braced for the next four years. Støre’s government has already formed a five-point plan for dealing with Donald J Trump after he once again becomes the US president.
Trump was also a major topic of conversation at an annual conference in Oslo hosted by national employer’s organzation NHO. It was attended, as usual, by top politicians, the crown prince, captains of industry, various labour organizations and, not least, Norway’s former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, who had his own recommendations for “handling” Trump.
Norwegian business leaders are most concerned about Trump’s threatened trade wars, not just against China but also with several other US trading partners including Canada and other NATO allies. They’re also deeply concerned about Trump’s commitment to NATO itself, whether he’ll continue to support Ukraine and his recent threats of US aggression against Panama, Canada and Greenland.
“The unpredictability is greater than it’s been before,” Svein Tore Holsether, CEO of the large Norwegian fertilizer and chemicals firm Yara, told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN). He’s also the president of NHO, which mounted an offensive strike before the organization’s conference on Wednesday.
Joining Holsether and Støre for the high-level meeting at the prime minister’s office were fellow chief executives from oil and energy firm Equinor, defense contractor Kongsberg, energy and industrial firm Aker, Norway’s biggest bank DNB, metals producer Hydro, the Wilhelmsen group of shipping companies and salmon producer Mowi. DN reported that were Norway’s finance-, foreign and trade ministers also attended the high-level meeting.
Prime Minister Støre acknowledged the concerns about Trump’s unpredictability, repeating a line from his New Year’s address to the nation that “there’s a need for high alertness and vigilance in the year we’re entering.” In addition to all the security and defense threats coming from Norway’s neighbouring Russia, the Norwegian government suddenly faces defense threats from Trump, too: The US President-elect shocked many earlier this week by claiming he wouldn’t rule out use of economic or military pressure to take control over Greenland, which has been part of NATO ally and close neighbour Denmark for years. That raised immediate concerns that Trump may set his sights on Norway’s Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, that’s also of strategic importance.
Støre doesn’t think that will happen. While claiming on state broadcaster NRK this week that Trump’s threat against Denmark is “not OK, not OK,” but noted that “one thing is what he (Trump) says, and how he says it. We know that he’s a politician who communicates policy in a different manner.” Støre went on to say that “Svalbard is (part of) Norway and Svalbard is safe.”
Støre also remains intent on continuing to invest in and build up Norway’s own defense, taking part in joint military exercises with the US and, not least, making sure Trump is aware of the Norwegian Oil Fund’s investments in US companies that create US jobs. Norwegian Defense Minister Børn Arild Gram could also announce this week that Norway’s defense spending will rise to nearly 3 percent of its GNP by the early 2030s. Gram also intends to visit the new US defense secretary at the Pentagon in Washington “as soon as possible.”
The most concrete goal for Støre and the business leaders he met with, though, is to avoid getting get “caught in the crossfire” of Trump’s looming trade battles between the US and many of its partners, who also are Norway’s partners. Hence the five-point plan to:
** continue developing security- and defense policy ties to the US
** protecting Norway’s trade policy with both the EU and the US
** establishing early and close contact with key officials within Trump’s new administration
** establishing closer direct cooperation with individual states within the US and
** continuing to boost Norway’s own defense capability
Topping the list of their concerns are Trump’s threatened demands for its US trade partners to also impose large new tariffs against imports from China, similar to those Trump wants to. Trump has also been threatening tariffs against European carmakers, for example, and products from Canada.
“That would have negative effects on the economies of our most important allies,” Støre stold DN. The EU is Norway’s most important market for everything from seafood to oil, gas, aluminum and more. Norway’s trade minister Cecilie Myrseth told DN she worries that the EU could establish counter measures against the US that could hurt Norway’s interests, or that the US and EU could reach agreements that don’t include Norway, which is not a member of the EU.
Støre’s governent is thus mounting the new five-point plan for dealing with Trump and his new administration after Trump takes office on January 20. There’s little doubt, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told DN, that Trump intends to “hit the ground running,” and now the challenge is to keep up.
Norway’s embassy in Washington has already been working “systematically” to establish new contacts within the incoming administration. Asked what counter-threats Norway could resort to if needed, Støre told DN that Norway, as a small country with an open economy, doesn’t act that way. “We try to find solutions,” he said.
Støre was also quick to send gratulations to Trump after he’d won the US presidential election in November. He has admitted to being “uneasy” about Trump’s return to the White House, “but I can’t let that be any overwhelming fear.” He opted the day after Trump’s victory to send Trump a personal greeting and mention that Norway has long traditions to build upon in its relations to the US. “And that I looked forward to work with him,” Støre told DN in November.
Trump’s response came shortly thereafter. Trump wrote that Støre’s message had been received and that he valued it.
Stian Jenssen, who was Jens Stoltenberg’s chief of staff at NATO and now works for industrial firm Aker’s investment company IPC, has told DN that he doesn’t think Trump will make as many changes in foreign- and security policy as feared. “My experience with the (former) Trump administration is that it’s possible to find common solutions,” Jenssen told DN. “We shouldn’t exaggerate how big any changes can be.” He thinks it’s important “to take him seriously, but not always literally. It’s time to stay calm now.”
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
