President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will discuss trade, the Russia-Ukraine war, and energy prices during their bilateral meeting on Friday.
Trump and Orbán held a joint gaggle in the Cabinet Room with members of the press, where Trump shared an agenda for their discussion.
“We’re going to be talking trade. We’re going to be talking a little bit of Russia–Ukraine. We’ll be talking about energy and energy prices,” Trump said.
One reporter asked Trump if he would be open to granting Hungary an exemption on Russian oil, which faces substantial sanctions, to which Trump said, “We’re looking at it because it’s very difficult for him to get the oil and gas from other areas.”
“As you know, they don’t have the advantage of having sea. It’s a great country, it’s a big country, but they don’t have sea; they don’t have the ports, and so they have a difficult problem,” Trump said, noting that another country, which he did not directly name, faces a similar problem.
Trump said he is “very disturbed” by European countries that do not face the landlocked problem of Hungary and continue to buy oil and gas from Russia despite the help they receive from the United States.
“Hungary is in a different position, but many European countries are buying oil and gas from Russia, and they have been for years. And I say, ‘What’s that all about?’” the president added.
Both leaders were very complimentary of one another, with Trump stating that Orbán has “done a fantastic job.”
“He’s a very powerful man within his country, but he’s also beloved. They love Viktor, and people that know him do. He’s run a really great country, and he’s got no crime, he’s got no problems, like some countries do,” Trump said.
Orbán lauded Trump for restoring the United States’ bilateral relationship with Hungary after former President Joe Biden caused “a lot of harm” to relations.
“The reason why we are here to open a new chapter between the bilateral relation of United States and Hungary, basically because during the Democrat administration, everything was ruined after your leaving,” Orbán said.
“In the last 10 months. President, what you have done, we are very much grateful for that, you restored the old level of the relationship,” Orbán added. “You improved the bilateral relation. You repaired what was done badly by the previous administration.”
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