Donald Trump's Staunch European Ally: Viktor Orban

The relationship between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Donald Trump has been consistently strong for years. Since Trump’s first presidential term, mutual respect and a willingness to cooperate have been evident in their communications, and their political agendas align on several issues, particularly regarding migration. Since Trump’s re-election, the two leaders have spoken several times including in person meetings.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and US President-elect Donald Trump (Photo: MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Zoltan Fischer)

Donald Trump’s Second Presidency

In July 2024, PM Viktor Orban embarked on a whirlwind peace mission. The last stop was a meeting on July 11 with then presidential candidate Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. 

At the time PM Orban posted on social media:

Peace Mission 5.0. It was an honor to visit @realDonaldTrump in Mar-a-Lago. We discussed ways to make peace. The good news of the day: he's going to solve it!

In response, Donald Trump sent a personal message to Orban:

Thank you, Viktor. Let there be peace, quickly. Too many lives have been lost in a war that should never have started!

Later that year, after Trump’s reelection as US president, the two leaders met again in Mar-a-Lago for a three-hour discussion, demonstrating their continued strong personal and political rapport.

This sign of their close relationship will undoubtedly lead to improved relations between the two countries following Trump's inaguration, experts say.

Since his re-election, Donald Trump has spoken to the Hungarian prime minister several times on the phone and has also received him in person.

The 45th and 47th president of the United States of America have spoken positively about Viktor Orban on several occasions and praised him in interviews and statements. Tamas Magyarics, a historian and former Hungarian ambassador to Dublin, told Magyar Nemzet earlier,

the President-elect wants to signal who he would work more closely with in the coming years.

In our podcast after the US presidential election, experts pointed out that Viktor Orban's good personal relationship with Donald Trump could also strengthen the former's position within the EU.

On the EU-US relations and the impact of the good relationship between Trump and Viktor Orban, Steve Bannon, former senior adviser to the US president-elect, said,

PM Orban is the true bridge to Trump from Europe. 

Bannon added that the Hungarian prime minister is the one who is most in alignment with the MAGA movement. A colleague of the senior adviser also stressed that PM Viktor Orban has always supported Donald Trump behind the scenes as well as publicly, which has strengthened their good personal relationship and also serves a mediating role between Europe and the new US administration.

Cover photo: Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and US President-elect Donald Trump (MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Zoltan Fischer)