There will be plenty of warmth on display as US President Donald Trump welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the White House on November 7, but alongside the strong personal chemistry there will be a full plate of issues as they sit down to lunch.
Long united by ideology and words, the two leaders are on opposite sides of the policy fence when it comes to imports of Russian oil. Meanwhile, plans for Orban to host Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Budapest have been placed very much on the back burner.
An exemption from US measures aimed at restricting the trade in Russian oil appears to be a key item on Orban’s wish list in Washington.
RFE/RL’s Hungarian Service reported that conversations with sources in the Hungarian government suggested they thought a deal on an exemption was likely. There is a European precedent, following a decision last month to temporarily exclude Rosneft’s German subsidiary from sanctions.
The White House and the State Department did not comment on questions from RFE/RL.
“He has asked for an exemption. We haven’t granted one.... Viktor is a friend of mine. He has asked for an exemption,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on October 31.
Sanctioning Russian Oil
Last month, Washington announced sanctions on two of Russia’s biggest oil companies, state-controlled Rosneft and privately owned LUKoil, in an effort to force Putin into talks on ending his more than three-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The move could expose those doing business with them to secondary sanctions.
Prior to that, Trump had threatened secondary tariffs on nations that import Russian crude oil. In September, he called on “all NATO nations” to stop. He did not mention Hungary by name, but last month one of his most senior diplomats did.
“Hungary, unlike many of its neighbors, has not made any plans or [taken] any active steps" toward weaning itself off Russian energy supplies, US Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker said in an interview with Fox News published on October 27.
"There's a lot of planning our friends in Hungary will have to do," he added, promising US aid to help make this happen.
Orban has not hidden his displeasure over the issue.
Asked recently whether the US sanctions went too far, he said “from a Hungarian point of view, yes.” He has also said that stopping oil purchases would be a “catastrophe” that would bring his country’s economy “to its knees.”
In a statement on November 5, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto made no mention of the issue, perhaps to temper expectations of a deal in Washington.
'We Don’t Really Have Much To Offer Each Other'
Szijjarto’s statement said bilateral ties were enjoying a “golden age” and that talks would focus on economic and energy cooperation but provided no details. Hungary is not a major US trading partner. The US ran a $9.4-billion deficit in 2024, with exports worth just $3.2 billion to Hungary, according to the United States Census Bureau.
A Hungarian government source told RFE/RL’s Hungarian Service “we don’t really have much to offer each other,” but added that Orban may agree to buy some US liquified natural gas despite previously viewing it as uneconomical compared to Russian gas imports.
This, plus possibly some minor arms purchases and cooperating with US companies on civilian nuclear energy, might be part of a quid pro quo involving an oil-sanctions waiver.
Orban’s 180-strong delegation, which will use an aircraft chartered from Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air, will include several cabinet ministers, business leaders, and others.
Szijjarto’s statement also listed “peace in Ukraine” as a key topic for the talks and reiterated the offer of Budapest as a summit venue. But as noted, Orban’s hopes of hosting a Trump-Putin meeting have been mothballed for now.
Orban’s position on Ukraine has been largely unchanged since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022: opposing military support to Kyiv and trying to prevent sanctions on Russia.
This once aligned him with Trump, but the US leader has appeared increasingly frustrated with Putin’s unwillingness to compromise in peace talks.
Trump announced on October 22 that "every time I speak with Vladimir [Putin], I have good conversations, and then they don't go anywhere." His comments were followed by the new oil sanctions, a move denounced by Putin as “unfriendly.”
Orban’s opposition to Ukrainian EU membership may or may not be an issue. Back in August, Bloomberg reported that Trump had called Orban urging him to stop blocking Kyiv’s membership talks.
However, Szijjarto denied this. "I would like to make it clear that no such phone call took place. It did not happen. Period," he said.
Ahead of Orban’s visit, the issue has resurfaced. Asked about whether Trump had voiced support for Ukrainian EU membership on November 4, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “Donald Trump is supporting Ukraine as a future EU member.”
Speaking through an interpreter, he added: “We were talking about the blockage of some of the points by the Hungarian leader. And I asked President Trump, if he supports me in that, to help us. So, he told me that he will do everything possible.”
The same day, Orban hit back on social media.
“Hungary does not and will not support Ukraine’s membership in the European Union, because it would bring the war into Europe and take the money of Hungarians out to Ukraine,” he wrote.
In a separate development in the run-up to the Trump-Orban talks, Kari Lake, the acting CEO of the United States Agency of Global Media, on November 5 notified Congress of action to terminate and no longer fund RFE/RL’s Hungarian Service as "it is not aligned with US national interests."
This service was relaunched in 2020 at the direction of US Congress.
RFE/RL management had no immediate comment.
