By Steve Holland and Anita Komuves
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump sits down for talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday, and the two leaders are expected to discuss Hungary’s reliance on Russian oil at a time when Trump has been working to wean nations off of it.
Orban, a long-time Trump ally, will be meeting the U.S. president for the first time bilaterally since Trump returned to the White House in January.
The two leaders are like-minded in their anti-immigration stances, but a potentially difficult topic involves Hungary’s reliance on Russian oil. Trump has been insisting that European nations stop buying it as a way to dry up Moscow’s funding for its invasion of Ukraine.
Hungary has maintained its reliance on Russian energy since the start of the 2022 conflict in Ukraine, prompting criticism from several European Union and NATO allies.
Hungarian officials said in the run-up to the meeting that Orban aims to discuss a path to a U.S.-Russia meeting and seek exemptions from U.S. energy sanctions.
Trump said last month that he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Hungarian capital, but the meeting was put on hold after Russia rejected a ceasefire.
“All diplomatic negotiations are hard, but I expect a friendly and easy negotiation,” Orban told Hungarian state news media ahead of the meeting when asked if he expected tough talks on exemptions from sanctions on Russian oil companies.
State news agency MTI said that on his flight to Washington, Orban called the topic of energy sanctions “serious” and said that “stakes were high,” although he did not expect the talks with Trump on this topic to be difficult.
“I know the president, he knows me, we know the subject, we simply have to reach an agreement,” Orban was quoted as saying by MTI.
The two leaders also plan to discuss ways of greater economic cooperation between the United States and Hungary. The White House said the leaders would discuss “areas of mutual interest” and hinted some deals could result.
“The American people can expect more good deals out of Prime Minister Orban’s visit spanning various industries,” a White House official said.
The Hungarian leader, who faces an election in 2026, has cultivated a strong personal rapport with Trump over the years, although there are tensions over Russian oil as well as Orban’s pro-China policies.
A tangible sign of improved ties under the Trump administration came last month when the U.S. fully restored Hungary’s status in its visa waiver program.
Hungary has pushed back against plans by the European Commission to phase out the EU’s imports of all Russian gas and liquefied natural gas by the end of 2027, deepening a rift with Brussels over relations with Moscow.
(Reporting By Steve Holland in Washington and Anita Komuves in Budapest; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)
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