Viktor Orbán meets Trump at the White House to seek his agreement on a 'life and death' matter for Hungary

The Hungarian prime minister says Budapest must keep buying Russian oil despite US demands because it has no alternative, and will try to convey that to Trump in Washington on Friday. Critics disagree, Reuters, the Associated Press and the Hungarian publication Telex write.

When Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán talks to Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, his priority will be to convince the US administration to approve Hungary's desire to buy Russian oil, at a time when the US administration is asking allies to abandon such purchases that support Moscow's war machine.

It is unclear whether he will succeed, but Orbán has claimed that for Hungary, buying oil from Russia “is a matter of life and death”.

Considered Vladimir Putin's biggest supporter in the European Union, Orbán has maintained cordial relations with the Kremlin despite its war on Ukraine. At the same time, she won the friendship of Trump and the admiration of the MAGA world, which considers Hungary a shining example of conservative nationalism despite the erosion of its democratic institutions.

Orbán and Trump have similar views on their anti-immigration stance, but Hungary's dependence on Russian oil is not an issue that unites them. They already discussed the issue on the phone after Trump asked the Europeans to stop buying Russian oil.

“He asked for the exemption (from this request). I didn't grant it to him, but he asked for it. Viktor is my friend,” Trump said after such a discussion with the Hungarian prime minister.

“We just have to come to an agreement”

“All diplomatic negotiations are difficult, but I expect a friendly and easy negotiation,” Orbán told Hungarian state media ahead of the meeting, when asked if he expected difficult talks on sanctions relief for Russian oil companies, Reuters writes.

State news agency MTI said that during his flight to Washington, Orbán described the issue of energy sanctions as “serious” and said the “stakes are high”, although he did not expect talks with Trump on the issue to be difficult.

“I know the president, he knows me, we know the subject, we simply have to reach an agreement,” Orban said, according to MTI.

At the heart of Orbán's calls for a waiver is his claim that landlocked Hungary, located in the heart of Central Europe, has no viable alternatives to Russian crude and that replacing those supplies would trigger an economic collapse. Critics, writes the Associated Press, dispute this claim.

Trump has previously indicated that Orbán's arguments could be persuasive. In October, he called Orbán a “very great leader” and said Hungary was “somewhat stuck” in purchasing Russian oil.

Trump said Hungary has “only one pipeline” — Drujba, which carries Russian crude oil through Ukraine to Central Europe.

“Don't insult everyone's intelligence”

However, another pipeline, Adria, which runs from Croatia's Adriatic coast, also carries non-Russian oil to Hungary's main refinery — a route that, according to critics of Orbán and the Croatian oil transport company, could meet Hungary's energy needs, the Associated Press writes.

Daniel Fried, a member of the Atlantic Council and former US ambassador to Poland, dismissed Orbán's complaints that Hungary has no other energy options.

“Don't insult everyone's intelligence,” Fried said, noting that Poland, also in central Europe, has spent years preparing for alternatives. “Hungary did none of this. They complained and complained,” he said.

While most EU member states have sharply reduced or halted fossil fuel imports from Russia following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Hungary and neighboring Slovakia have maintained pipeline deliveries.

Hungary has even increased the share of Russian oil in its energy mix from 61 percent before the war to about 86 percent, according to a report by independent researchers.

A large Hungarian delegation to the USA

At the White House, the two leaders also plan to discuss ways of closer economic cooperation between the United States and Hungary. The White House said the leaders would discuss “areas of mutual interest” and suggested some agreements could result.

“The American people can expect more favorable deals following Prime Minister Orban's visit, targeting various industries,” a White House official said.

Orbán has been seriously preparing for the meeting and has already posted numerous pictures on Facebook on the day of the meeting, including from the plane that carried the delegation to Washington.

The Hungarian delegation, writes the publication Telex,hu, is a large one, made up of business leaders and members of the government – the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, the Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár, as well as the Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy, the Minister of Energy Csaba Lantos, the Minister of Defense Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky and the Minister of Culture and Innovation Balázs Hankó -, the heads of important agencies of state, the national security adviser and numerous representatives of the platforms that serve to broadcast government speech directly.

On the American side, Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are sure to be present. The telex says that Orbán will meet separately with Vance on the same day.

The Hungarian leader, who faces a difficult election in 2026, has cultivated a strong personal relationship with Trump over the years, and despite friction over Russia and China, they still appear solid.

A tangible sign of improving Hungarian-US relations under the Trump administration came last month, when the US fully restored Hungary's status in the Visa Waiver Program.