Poland’s president becomes the latest leader to visit Donald Trump as allies eye a possible return
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Former President Donald Trump met Wednesday in New York with Polish President Andrzej Duda, the latest in a series of meetings with foreign leaders as Europe braces for the possibility of a second Trump term.
The presumptive Republican nominee hosted Duda at Trump Tower, where the two discussed the war in Ukraine and Duda’s push to boost NATO members’ defense spending, according to a readout from Trump’s campaign. Duda, who has long expressed admiration for Trump, is also a staunch supporter of Ukraine and has encouraged Washington to provide more aid to Kyiv amid Russian’s ongoing invasion. That funding has been held up by Trump allies in Congress.
As he arrived, Trump praised the Polish president, saying, “He’s done a fantastic job and he’s my friend.”
“We had four great years together,” Trump added. “We’re behind Poland all the way.”
Following the almost 2 1/2 hour meeting, Duda said only that it was a “friendly meeting in very nice atmosphere.”
His aide, Wojciech Kolarski, also in attendance, described it as an “excellent meeting” of “two friends who reminisced on the time when for four years they cooperated while holding presidential offices,” a time that was “very fruitful for Polish-U.S. relations.”
Duda is the latest foreign leader to meet with Trump in the weeks since he locked up the Republican nomination. U.S. allies across the world were caught off guard by Trump’s surprise 2016 win, forcing them to scramble to build relationships with a president who often attacked longstanding treaties and alliances they valued. Setting up meetings with him during the 2024 campaign suggests they don’t want to be behind again.
Duda’s visit comes a week after Trump met with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, another NATO member and key proponent of supporting Ukraine, at the former president’s Florida estate.
In March, Trump hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an autocrat who has maintained the closest relationship with Russia among European Union countries. Orbán shared a montage of footage of the visit on his Instagram feed, which included an image of him and his staff meeting with Trump and the former president’s aides in a scene that looked like an official bilateral meeting.
Trump also met briefly in February with Javier Milei, the fiery, right-wing populist president of Argentina who ran a campaign inspired by Trump, complete with red “Make Argentina Great Again” hats. Milei gave Trump an excited hug backstage at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, according to video posted by a Trump campaign aide.
Biden administration officials have been careful not to weigh in publicly on foreign leaders’ meetings with Trump, acknowledging he has a real chance of winning the race.
