❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump said he is considering granting Hungary an exemption from U.S. sanctions on Russian energy during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Trump, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The discussions took place on November 7 at the White House.
💬KEY QUOTE: “I am simply asking for the realization that the sanctions recently imposed on Russian energy puts certain countries like Hungary, which do not have access to the sea, in an impossible situation.” – Viktor Orban.
🎯IMPACT: The potential exemption could alleviate Hungary’s energy problems, while a newly announced nuclear energy agreement aims to increase Hungary’s use of U.S. technology and fuel over the longer term.
President Donald J. Trump said Friday that he is considering granting Hungary an exemption from U.S. sanctions on Russian energy. The announcement was made during a White House meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who described the matter as “vital” for his country and warned of serious consequences if the restrictions were implemented.
“We’re looking at it because it’s very difficult for him to get the oil and gas from other areas,” President Trump said, adding: “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 also praised Orbán for his strong border and immigration policies, in contrast with the wider European Union’s permissive attitude towards mass migration, while Orbán praised the President’s foreign policy achievements.
“I’m not asking for some kind of gift from the Americans or some kind of unusual thing,” Orbán, a longtime ally and supporter of the America First leader, explained on Hungarian radio previously. “I am simply asking for the realization that the sanctions recently imposed on Russian energy puts certain countries like Hungary, which do not have access to the sea, in an impossible situation,” adding that he was “going to ask the President to acknowledge that.”
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced during the U.S. trip that Hungary will sign a bilateral nuclear energy cooperation agreement with the United States. The deal, negotiated with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will see Hungary purchase American nuclear fuel for the first time, adopt U.S. technology for spent-fuel storage at its Paks nuclear power plant, and collaborate on the development of small modular reactors.
Hungary imports more than 80 percent of its natural gas and a majority of its oil from Russia. Despite EU efforts to phase out Russian fossil fuels, Budapest has repeatedly fought exemptions, arguing that its landlocked geography on the border of Ukraine leaves it few alternatives.
Notably, relations between Hungary and Ukraine are tense following Kiev’s claim earlier this year that it uncovered a Hungarian spy network operating in western Ukraine, an accusation Hungary denies. Ukraine hosts a large Hungarian ethnic minority in its Transcarpathia border region, with Budapest often complaining that Kiev mistreats them.
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