President Donald Trump said his administration is “looking at” giving Hungary an exemption from U.S. sanctions on buying Russian oil.
“Sure, we’re looking at it, because it’s very difficult for [Hungary] to get the oil and gas from other areas,” Trump said Friday during a meeting at the White House with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. “They don’t have the advantage of having sea … They don’t have the ports. They have a difficult problem.”
The conservative Hungarian leader is looking to convince Trump during his visit to spare Budapest from sanctions imposed on two Russian oil companies, which Orbán has called a “mistake.”
Orbán has been one the most outspoken European leaders against the sanctions, arguing that sanctions would cripple his country’s energy capacities. Hungary relies on Russian oil for 86 percent of its supply, a number that has grown since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“That will be one of the issues [discussed] today,” Orbán told reporters. “To explain clearly what will be the consequences for the Hungarian people and Hungarian economy not to get oil and gas from Russia, because we are supplied by pipelines. Pipelines are not an ideological or political issue. It’s a physical reality … We will negotiate on that point. It’s vital.”
Orbán is coming with sweeteners — for example, an offer of buying U.S. nuclear fuel and technology, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
The Trump-Orbán meeting is the first time the president has invited the Hungarian leader to the White House in his second term.
Orbán has called the Washington visit the beginning of “phase two” of the country’s thawing of relations with the U.S. He has blamed the Biden administration for “politically motivated sanctions,” likely referring to the U.S. Treasury slapping sanctions on his top aide, Antal Rogán with allegations of corruption.
