Hungarian leaders say President Trump has promised to protect Hungary’s finances amid tensions between Orban and the EU and sign a $600 million gas deal.
Published November 9, 2025
Hungary has struck a deal that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called a “financial shield” to protect its economy from potential attacks after talks with US President Donald Trump.
Mr. Orbán, a longtime ally of Mr. Trump and one of Europe’s most outspoken nationalist leaders, met with the U.S. president at the White House on Friday and called for easing sanctions on Russian oil and gas. After the meeting, he announced that Hungary had secured a one-year exemption from these measures.
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“I also agreed with the US president on a financial shield,” Prime Minister Orbán said in a video posted by Hungarian media index.hu on Sunday. “In the event of an external attack on Hungary or its financial system, the United States has pledged to protect Hungary’s financial stability in such an event.”
White House officials said the deal also includes a deal worth about $600 million for Hungary to buy U.S. liquefied natural gas. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán did not provide details on how the “shield” would work, but insisted it would ensure that Hungary “does not face financial problems.”
“We should forget that Hungary and its currency could be attacked, that the Hungarian budget could be in a difficult situation, or that the Hungarian economy could be suffocated in terms of financing,” he said.
The move comes as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán faces economic stagnation and strained relations with the European Union, where the city of Brussels has frozen billions of euros in funding over what it calls a democratic backsliding in Hungary. Critics have accused Orbán of using his relationship with the US government to circumvent EU pressure and secure a new financial lifeline.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday that after his meeting with President Trump, Hungary was also exempted from US sanctions on Russian energy.
Hungary’s economy has struggled since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but the country’s currency, the forint, has shown some recovery this year, supported by high interest rates.
Meanwhile, President Trump has extended his support to another far-right leader, Argentina’s Javier Milei, pledging to shore up the country’s crumbling economy through a $20 billion currency swap deal with Argentina’s central bank. President Trump said he would also buy Argentine pesos to “help a great philosophy take over a great country.”
Milley, who has visited the United States more than a dozen times since taking office in December 2023, including attending President Trump’s second inauguration, has battled inflation, debt and dwindling foreign exchange reserves. Argentine government bond prices plummeted in late September as Argentina’s central bank scrambled to stabilize the peso.
