The exemption from sanctions on Russian oil and gas and a larger financial maneuver are the two biggest results of the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Washington on Friday, writes Political Capital in its analysis. According to the analysis institute, the government recently projected huge economic agreements and the organization of the Budapest peace summit for the meeting, but by Friday, the main success was the achievement of exemption from sanctions.
Political Capital also quotes the article published by Telex on Thursday, in which they explained that Trump, who has a businessman mentality, is trying to help Orbán, but the question is how long he will stick to his decision and what price Hungary will pay for it. Hungary buys HUF 466 billion worth of American weapons, heating elements, technology enabling their neutralization, and American LNG gas, as well as a long-term commitment to the purchase of small modular reactors, the analysis states.
All this also shows that the government previously said in vain that Paks II. it would only be functional with a Russian heating element, and that there is no alternative to Russian gas and oil.
The financial maneuver mentioned above is the so-called swap line it can be. According to the article published on Válasz Online, the announcement that “in order to preserve and strengthen Hungarian financial stability (…) we will also develop new forms of American-Hungarian financial cooperation” may refer to this. The essence of this is that the central banks of two countries exchange currencies, which also opens the door to the other as a potential loan. This may mean protection for the forint against inflation, greater room for spending maneuvers for the government, but according to Political Capital, it is also an admission of the country’s poor economic situation and vulnerability.
After the negotiations, only one investment was announced, that of Voyager Technologies, nor was the double taxation agreement reinstated. According to the analysis, it was also seen that there was no agreement between Trump and Orbán about the war in Ukraine. According to the Russian narrative, Orbán said that Ukraine cannot win on the battlefield. Trump was spectacularly surprised by this at the press conference.
As Gábor Török wrote, the meeting could have been beneficial to Orbán from a domestic political point of view. However, it indicates the limits of their relationship from a diplomatic point of view. “Trump likes and respects Orbán, indirectly helps him before the election, but broader American diplomatic and economic interests set the limits of this,” the analysis stated. As political advertising on social media became almost impossible, the Orbáns brought many propagandists with them to Washington.
According to the institute, Péter Magyar cannot compete with this, so he dealt with domestic political topics and compared Trump with Orbán, who was praised by the former. This is no wonder, according to Political Capital, if a Hungarian considers himself a candidate in the election, he cannot do anything else.
The results of Friday’s American summit were summarized in this article. After the Orbán-Trump meeting, Viktor Orbán announced that the United States will grant Hungary a complete exemption from the American sanctions on Russian oil and gas in the case of the Turkish Stream and the Friendship Pipeline. Hungary will buy heating material from Westinghouse, and they will pave the way for the appearance of small American modular reactors in Hungary.
Paks II. American sanctions affecting the power plant will be completely removed, but no agreement has been reached on the restoration of the double taxation agreement. Later, Orbán also met separately with American Vice President JD Vance. You can read what else was discussed in our broadcast minute by minute, or watch it in our video summary.
