Trump vows to defend Hungary's finances amid tensions between Orban and EU and sign gas deal worth $600 million, Hungarian leader says.
Posted on November 9, 2025
Hungary reached a deal for what Prime Minister Viktor Orban called a “financial shield” to safeguard its economy from possible attacks following talks with US President Donald Trump.
Orban, a longtime Trump ally and one of Europe's most outspoken nationalist leaders, met with the U.S. president at the White House on Friday to seek relief from sanctions on Russian oil and gas. After the meeting, he announced that Hungary had obtained an exemption from these measures for one year.
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“I have also reached an agreement with the president of the United States on a financial shield,” Orban said in a video published by Hungarian media index.hu on Sunday. “If there were any external attack on Hungary or its financial system, the Americans gave their word that in such case they would defend Hungary's financial stability.”
A White House official said the deal also included contracts worth about $600 million for Hungary to buy American liquefied natural gas. Orban did not give details on how the “shield” would work, but said it would ensure Hungary “did not face financing problems.”
“That Hungary or its currency could be attacked, or that the Hungarian budget could be in a difficult situation, or that the Hungarian economy could be financially suffocated, that should be forgotten,” he said.
The move comes as Orban faces economic stagnation and strained relations with the European Union, which has frozen billions of euros in funds over what Brussels calls Hungary's democratic backsliding. Critics accuse Orban of using his ties to Washington to evade EU pressure and secure new financial lifelines.
Orban said Friday that Hungary also received an exemption from U.S. sanctions on Russian energy after a meeting with Trump.
Hungary's economy has struggled since Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but its currency, the forint, has shown some recovery this year, supported by high interest rates.
Meanwhile, Trump has extended his support to another far-right leader, Argentina's Javier Milei, promising to shore up the country's collapsing economy through a $20 billion currency swap deal with Argentina's central bank. Trump said he would also buy Argentine pesos to “help a great philosophy take over a great country.”
Milei, who has made more than a dozen trips to the United States since taking office in December 2023, including to attend Trump's second inauguration, is battling inflation, debt and dwindling reserves. Argentine bond prices plummeted in late September as the central bank struggled to stabilize the peso.
