Weeks after Donald Trump feted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at his Mar-a-Lago estate, the former president hosted another Eastern European leader at Trump Tower following his Manhattan court appearance on Wednesday.
“Trump praised Polish President Andrzej Duda after meeting together in New York City to discuss raising NATO’s spending to three percent and issues centering around Ukraine and Israel,” Breitbart News reported.
In a press release on Wednesday evening, Trump and Duda were described as being “great friends” who not only talked about raising NATO’s minimum limit on member nation defense spending but also discussed the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East involving Israel and Hamas.
“The two presidents, who are great friends, discussed President Duda’s proposal for NATO countries to go to 3% spending on their defense,” the press release said.
President @realDonaldTrump welcomes President Andrzej Duda of Poland to Trump Tower 🇺🇸🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/YFqUgbqpwV
— Margo Martin (@margommartin) April 17, 2024
“He’s doing a fantastic job,” Trump can be heard saying. “The people of Poland love him. They really do.”
Trump noted further that it wasn’t an “easy thing to accomplish” and then said that Duda was his “friend.”
“President Trump fondly recalled his landmark trip to Poland in 2017 and praised the Polish people for steadfast defense of their sovereignty and to their commitment to the security of Europe’s borders from any and all threats,” the press release from Trump said.
In July 2017, Trump went to Poland, where Duda described his country and the United States as being “loyal partners” who worked together on “many different areas within the NATO alliance.”
During the visit, Duda emphasized Trump’s seriousness regarding security and expressed gratitude for his support for Polish-Americans. Poland, which shares borders with countries like Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Germany, is also a member of NATO.
While Trump has opposed sending additional funding to Ukraine, Duda, a conservative, has reportedly advocated for the U.S. to continue providing additional funding to Ukraine.
