By Steve Holland and Anne Kauranen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump and Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb will meet on Thursday at the White House, planning to approve a pact for the U.S. Coast Guard to buy up to four icebreaker ships from Finnish shipyards.

Trump and Stubb have established friendly ties since Trump regained power in January, and the two met in March at the president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and played a round of golf.

Trump has consistently called for the United States to acquire as many as 40 new icebreakers to enhance U.S. national security in the Arctic and counter the growing influence of China and Russia.

A White House official said Trump would sign a memorandum of understanding with Finland to build four “Arctic security cutters” at shipya

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