Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on 7 November. According to a recent video uploaded to the prime minister’s Facebook page, the goal of the visit is to ‘establish strategic economic partnership’ with the Trump administration.
The prime minister explained that there had been politically motivated sanctions imposed on Hungary by the previous administration, led by former president Joe Biden, which, he noted, had been removed over the past six months.
Orbán added that the next step is to develop strategic economic cooperation with the Trump administration. ‘To achieve this second objective, the Hungarian delegation has prepared a comprehensive Hungarian–American economic cooperation package,’ he concluded.
As Hungarian Conservative reported earlier, political director of the Hungarian prime minister Balázs Orbán stated that the agenda of the highly anticipated meeting would include economic, defence, and energy issues. In a detailed analysis, Hungarian outlet Index claimed that the Washington meeting could lay the foundation for a new US–Hungarian energy axis: while Hungary maintains its Russian sources, it is making a strategic opening towards American nuclear technology and, to a lesser extent, natural gas. ‘They need markets, we need security alternatives. It’s a classic case of supply meeting demand—just with a modern geopolitical dimension,’ as one government source aptly put it.
Speculation over the outcome of the meeting is already ongoing in Western media and among think tanks. The Atlantic Council, for instance, said in an analysis that Trump might ask Orbán to lift his veto on Ukraine’s EU accession. ‘The Trump team should press Orbán to stop playing spoiler and allow Europe to take the meaningful action it needs to as Ukraine’s biggest backer. So in exchange for any sanctions relief or economic deals, Orbán’s White House visit would be a perfect opportunity to end Budapest’s obstruction of Ukraine’s EU accession progress,’ James Batchik wrote.
Orbán last met Trump in the White House in 2019 for a 30-minute private audience followed by a joint press conference. The two leaders emphasized deeper cooperation on defence, trade, and energy while underscoring a shared commitment to ‘Christian communities’ and migration control. Trump praised Orbán’s work, saying he had ‘kept his country safe’ and likening him to his own approach of being ‘controversial’. The White House stated that the two sides would focus on strengthening cooperation in trade, energy, cybersecurity, NATO, and defence.
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