The US president has described the EU nation’s prime minister as a “powerful leader” and close ally
US President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind Prime Minister Viktor Orban ahead of Hungary’s April parliamentary election.
The vote is set to be a challenging test for Orban’s lengthy conservative leadership, as the pro-EU Tisza Party—headed by Peter Magyar—has become the primary opposition force.
In a Thursday post on Truth Social, Trump labeled Orban a “truly strong and powerful leader” with a track record of “phenomenal results.” He noted the prime minister has safeguarded Hungary, expanded the economy, generated jobs, and boosted trade.
Trump further stated that they’ve both worked to “Stop Illegal Immigration” and “Ensure LAW AND ORDER,” adding that the U.S. and Hungary have achieved “new heights of cooperation” under Orban’s tenure.
Describing the Hungarian leader as a close ally and “true friend,” he wrote: “I was proud to ENDORSE Viktor for Re-Election in 2022, and am honored to do so again.”
Last month, Orban joked that Trump “may have wanted to put Greenland into his whiskey as a large piece of ice,” and while he couldn’t do that, moving forward, “that piece of ice is definitely his.”
He also said Trump succeeded in “kick-starting” international bodies that had grown stagnant under what he termed “well-mannered European academics.”
Orban is Hungary’s longest-tenured prime minister, first serving from 1998 to 2002 before regaining power in 2010.
His Fidesz alliance confronts a tough race in the upcoming election: a February 3 poll by 21 Kutatokozpont shows the Tisza Party ahead by seven percentage points, with 35% support compared to Fidesz’s 28%.
Orban also has tense ties with the EU. A vocal critic of the bloc’s Ukraine strategy, he has often clashed with Brussels—blocking or opposing measures like military aid to Kiev and the EU’s effort to use frozen Russian assets to fund the Russia-Ukraine war.
Since the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, Budapest has opposed the broad sanctions NATO and the EU imposed on Russia and has criticized Western arms shipments to Ukraine.
In January, Orban warned that if the pro-EU Tisza Party wins the election, it “will end up sending our children to war as soldiers.”