President Donald J. Trump said Friday he is considering granting Hungary an exemption from U.S. sanctions on Russian energy, signaling openness to an ally caught between geography and geopolitics.
Speaking at the White House alongside Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Trump called the issue “very difficult,” noting Hungary’s reliance on Russian energy. “We’re looking at it because it’s very difficult for him to get the oil and gas from other areas,” Trump said. “It’s a big country, but they don’t have sea, they don’t have the ports. And so they have a difficult problem.”
Orbán, who described the matter as “vital” for Hungary, said the sanctions put his nation in an “impossible situation.” “I’m not asking for some kind of gift from the Americans,” he explained. “I am simply asking for the realization that the sanctions recently imposed on Russian energy put certain countries like Hungary, which do not have access to the sea, in an impossible situation.”
Trump praised Orbán’s firm approach to border security and immigration, contrasting it with what he described as Europe’s lenient policies. Orbán, a longtime supporter of Trump’s America First agenda, in turn lauded the President’s foreign policy record.
During the visit, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced a new bilateral nuclear energy cooperation deal with the United States, negotiated with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The agreement will allow Hungary to purchase U.S. nuclear fuel for the first time and adopt American technology for spent-fuel storage at its Paks power plant, while advancing work on small modular reactors.
Hungary depends on Russia for more than 80 percent of its natural gas and a majority of its oil. Though the European Union has pushed to cut reliance on Moscow, Budapest has repeatedly sought exemptions, arguing its landlocked position leaves few alternatives.
Tensions with neighboring Ukraine further complicate Hungary’s position. Relations have soured after Kyiv alleged it uncovered a Hungarian spy network in western Ukraine, a charge Budapest denies. Hungary has also accused Ukraine of mistreating its ethnic Hungarian minority in the Transcarpathia region.
For Trump, the decision underscores his administration’s preference for pragmatic diplomacy over rigid sanctions policy—one that acknowledges the complex realities facing U.S. allies in Europe.
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