Beyond the prospects of hosting the Budapest Peace Summit to help broker peace in Ukraine, Hungary also plans to discuss bilateral relations with Trump’s team next month in D.C. Foreign Affairs Minister Péter Szijjártó has been in D.C., presumably paving the way for that meeting and finalizing the agenda.
The Orbán government has been eager to address certain trade and economic issues, with the double taxation agreement (suspended by the U.S. back in 2022), top of the list. Although it is unclear if that suspension will be lifted, there are plenty of other items on the agenda to negotiate. Szijjártó has previously indicated that cooperation with the U.S. will extend to defense as well.
In a post on Facebook, Szijjártó stated that the two leaders, Trump and Orbán, will have a personal meeting in November and that a major agreement will be signed regarding Hungarian-American economic and energy cooperation.
During his talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, energy was a primary focus. Hungary is seeking to expand its nuclear capacities and is looking for American tech to do so, including nuclear fuel elements for the Paks expansion and small modular nuclear reactors.
Orbán also noted last week that he would soon meet with Trump to discuss economic issues, that there is a date, and that the negotiation agenda is around 80 percent complete, writes Portfolio.hu.
Since Trump took office, nine American investments have been announced in Hungary, with another HUF 100 billion (€26 billion) worth expected this year. This has been confirmed by István Joó, CEO of the National Investment Agency, who is also in Washington for talks alongside FM Szijjártó with various industry players.
Discussions have already been held with Procter & Gamble on further strengthening Hungary’s role in P&G’s global production chain, and with Becton Dickinson on expansion opportunities.
According to Szijjártó, the European-American trade agreement previously concluded by the European Commission is harmful to Europe, and this can be neutralized and managed if they can embark on a large-scale bilateral economic and energy cooperation with the Americans.
