Trump Exempts Hungary from Russian Oil Sanctions After Orbán’s ‘Friendly’ White House Summit

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – In a significant diplomatic victory for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and a clear demonstration of the transactional and often personal nature of President Donald Trump's foreign policy, the United States has granted Hungary a one-year exemption from sweeping new American sanctions on the import of Russian oil and gas.

The decision, announced by a White House official following a "friendly" and warmly praised summit between the two leaders at the White House on Friday, represents a major concession to a European leader who has been one of the most outspoken critics of sanctions on Moscow and a steadfast, if controversial, ally of the American President.

The meeting, which was filled with conservative bonhomie and mutual admiration, not only produced a critical economic reprieve for Hungary but also showcased the deep ideological alignment between the two leaders, particularly on the contentious issue of immigration.

President Trump lavished praise on Orbán's hardline stance, holding him up as a model for other European leaders and drawing a stark, racialized contrast between a "very recognizable" Hungary and other European countries that he claimed have been rendered unrecognizable by migration.

The central and most urgent issue of the summit was the new U.S. sanctions, imposed last month on the major Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil as part of a broader effort to pressure Moscow to end its war in Ukraine.

As reported by The Guardian and Politico, these sanctions carried the threat of secondary sanctions on any entities or countries that continued to buy oil from them, a move that placed Hungary in a particularly perilous position. Orbán, whose country relies on Russia for a staggering 86 percent of its oil supply, came to Washington with the top priority of securing a reprieve.

He made his case directly to President Trump, explaining that for a landlocked country like Hungary, the issue was not one of politics but of "physical reality."

"Pipelines are not an ideological or political issue," Orbán told reporters. "We will negotiate on that point. It’s vital." He pledged to lay out the severe "consequences for the Hungarian people, and for the Hungarian economy, not to get oil and gas from Russia.”

President Trump, who has been aggressively pressing Europe to cut its energy ties with Moscow, appeared sympathetic to Orbán’s unique predicament.

"We’re looking at it, because it’s very different for him to get the oil and gas from other areas," Trump said during a joint press availability with the Hungarian leader. "As you know, they don’t have... the advantage of having sea. It’s a great country, it’s a big country, but they don’t have sea. They don’t have the ports."

In the hours after the meeting, a White House official, speaking to Reuters, confirmed that a deal had been reached. The official stated that the U.S. had agreed to exempt Hungary from the sanctions for one year.

This was later confirmed by Hungary’s foreign minister, who posted on the social media platform X that "a major outcome" of the meeting was that the U.S. "had granted Hungary a full and unlimited exemption from sanctions on oil and gas."

Orbán did not come to Washington empty-handed.

As reported by Politico, he arrived with a suite of "sweeteners" designed to incentivize the deal. He signed a memorandum to cooperate with the U.S. in the civil nuclear industry, including a pledge for the construction of 10 small modular reactors in Budapest, a project valued at $20 billion.

Hungary also committed to buying $114 million worth of nuclear fuel from the U.S.-based company Westinghouse, as well as $600 million worth of U.S. liquefied natural gas and $700 million worth of American defense material.

The warm and friendly atmosphere of the summit was evident from the moment Trump greeted Orbán at the White House, calling him a "great leader." The bonhomie was a reflection of a deep political and ideological kinship.

Orbán, a fierce opponent of Ukraine joining European alliances and a figure whom many in the EU view as the Kremlin's "Trojan horse," has been an unrelenting supporter of President Trump. He was an ally when Trump was out of power and has cultivated a conservative, anti-immigration, and natalist government that has become a model for many in the MAGA movement.

In his opening remarks, Orbán lavished praise on Trump and took a direct shot at the previous Biden administration, echoing Trump's own unsubstantiated claims of a stolen election.

“The reason why we are here to open a new chapter... is basically because during the Democrat administration everything was rigged,” he said, adding that Trump had "repaired what was done badly by the previous administration."

President Trump, for his part, returned the praise, particularly on the issue of immigration. "Look what’s happened to Europe with the immigration. They have people flooding Europe," Trump said, before describing the issue in more starkly racial terms. "You go to some of the countries, they’re unrecognizable now because of what they’ve done. And Hungary is very recognizable.”

He called on other European leaders to show more respect for Orbán, declaring, "he’s been right on immigration."

Orbán, in turn, defended his migration policies and lashed out at the financial penalties imposed on Hungary by the EU for its defiance of the bloc's rules. "This is the absurd world we are living in now in Europe," he said, positioning his government as a lonely bastion of Christian values.

"We are the only government in Europe which considers itself as a Christian government. All the other governments in Europe are basically liberal leftist governments," he stated.

The two leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine. Orbán has been a vocal proponent of a peace summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, an idea that seemed to be on Trump's mind during the meeting.

When asked about the possibility, Trump said, "If we have it, I’d like to do it in Budapest."

Orbán described both the U.S. and Hungary as "pro-peace" governments, in contrast to other European nations who he said are "misunderstanding" the conflict by believing Ukraine can win on the battlefield.

When Trump asked him directly if he thought Ukraine could win, Orbán responded with a wry, "Miracle[s] can happen."

As Viktor Orbán departs Washington, he does so with a major political and economic victory in hand, a testament to a personal and ideological alliance that has, for now, successfully navigated the complex and often contradictory currents of American foreign policy.

The one-year exemption from Russian oil sanctions is a clear demonstration that in President Trump's Washington, personal relationships and shared worldviews can, at times, outweigh broader strategic objectives, a reality that will be closely watched in capitals from Kyiv to Moscow and across a deeply divided European Union.