Hungary and the United States will agree on an economic cooperation package that will help the Hungarian economy and could balance out the effect of possible U.S. tariffs on Europe, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday.
According to Reuters, Orbán stated that the economic package would expand the existing political alliance between the two countries.
The Hungarian PM, who has supported U.S. President Donald Trump since his previous term, said that such an economic agreement would help Hungary even if a trade war between the U.S. and the European Union breaks out.
Last week, the President Trump stated that his administration would soon announce a 25 percent tariff on goods from the EU, which the Republican leader described as having been created to “screw” the United States.
“Hungary will suffer losses [in a trade war], just like all European Union member states. We do not yet know its extent, but we can be sure that it will happen,” Orban said at the annual conference of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He added that Hungary has a good chance of reaching an agreement with Washington and that the package may restrict or entirely negate the effect of a possible trade war within Hungary.
Hungarian officials are currently negotiating with the U.S. to renew a tax treaty that the previous American administration terminated, according to Orban.
“Hungary is isolated”
“Hungary is isolated,” President of the European Council Antonio Costa declared on Thursday at the end of a special EU summit that saw Viktor Orban voting against the approval of joint conclusions in support of Ukraine, forcing leaders to go ahead with an attached “extract” endorsed by 26.
“We respect Hungary’s position, but it’s one out of 27. And 26 are more than one,” Costa said after an EU summit focused on Ukraine’s future.
The concluding text of the summit speaks about “peace through strength,” military assistance and security guarantees for Kyiv, all of which Orban opposed.
Before the summit, the Hungarian prime minister publicly signaled his intention to veto the proposed language, arguing that it ran contrary to U.S. President Donald Trump’s deal-making initiative, to which Orban has firmly aligned himself.
After disengaging Hungary from the EU Council decision to continue offering military assistance to Ukraine, Orban believes that the possible tax treaty with the U.S. will help Hungary “offset, at a national economic level, the losses caused by U.S. tariffs imposed on Europe and will provide compensation both in monetary and real economic terms.”