Recent buzz about the possibility of Trump selecting Budapest to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine has brought Hungary back into the public consciousness. During the Biden years, Viktor Orbán’s Hungary was relegated to something of a footnote and regarded with distaste by the reigning administration. Now, Hungary has moved from adversary to ally in record time—a welcome reset that offers a window into Trump’s recalibrated foreign policy.
As early as the 2020 campaign, then-candidate Biden branded Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán a “thug” and lumped Poland and Hungary together as “totalitarian regimes”—incendiary language that prior U.S. presidents avoided, even when the two countries were under actual totalitarian control of the Communist Party.
It was hardly surprising, then, that in 2021 President Biden chose a gay, married LGBTQ activist with two adopted children as ambassador to Hungary—a country whose constitution defines marriage strictly as a union between a man and a woman, bans adoption by same-sex couples, and enforces some of Europe’s toughest child-protection laws. U.S. Ambassador David Pressman ignited tensions by denouncing Hungary’s conservative stance on marriage and its 2021 Child Protection Act, which forbids gender propaganda in K-12 schools.
Ambassador Pressman’s dinner parties became the new hot venue of Budapest’s foreign-funded progressive activists and influencers, including notable anti-Semites. Pressman raised the pride flag outside the U.S. Embassy in Budapest, hosted the Embassy’s first “family pride event” (which targeted children), and was a flagbearer at Budapest’s annual Pride March.
In response, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó accused him of overstepping. For his part, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán—whom Pressman never met during his entire tenure—called the American ambassador’s actions an affront to Hungary’s sovereignty. In July 2022, Biden unilaterally terminated the 1979 U.S.-Hungary double taxation treaty, which had spared U.S. firms and Hungarian expats from double taxation, easing cross-border business. These avoidable clashes damaged diplomatic relations, shifted bilateral engagement from conference tables to petty Twitter spats, and distracted from core U.S. interests in the region.
Trump’s second term occasioned a 180-degree shift. In early 2025, Trump appointed seasoned career diplomat Robert Palladino as Chargé d’Affaires, adding much-needed diplomatic finesse to the relationship and focusing on the core civilizational values both countries share. In an interview with Budapest’s diplomatic circle less than one month after his appointment, Palladino envisioned a “golden age” in relations, prioritizing prosperity over ideology.
The State Department’s annual Human Rights Report—long criticized as a vehicle for disciples of Obama’s wing-woman Victoria Nuland to bash right-wing governments around the world—is now institutionally refocused on natural rights. The State Department has also ceased to fund, via USAID and other vehicles, progressive pet projects of the Washington establishment in Hungary. Trump’s team and Hungary’s business-minded foreign minister are also moving quickly to boost bilateral trade volume.
Trump has lifted sanctions on Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant upgrade and signed an agreement for U.S. technology in small modular reactors. That the U.S.-based GE Vernova is set to take on a key role in the Paks expansion, breaking into a project long dominated by Russia’s Rosatom, is a strategically important move for both countries.
The revitalized partnership has also deepened strategic alignment between the two nations, particularly against E.U. overreach and anti-Trumpism in Brussels. In April of this year, Hungary alone voted against E.U. retaliatory tariffs on $23 billion of U.S. goods. Rather than merely scolding Hungary for its relations with China as Biden did, now-former Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell focused on countering Beijing’s influence, with U.S. investments diversifying Hungary’s economy. With defense spending above NATO’s 2% threshold—something even Canada, Belgium, and Spain can’t claim—Hungary has bolstered its security credentials.
This strategic reset also tracks with a shared approach to ending the Ukraine War. Orbán allied with Trump against the bellicose, one-dimensional, war-driven agenda shared by manifold lawmakers in Washington and Brussels alike. While all 26 other E.U. nations endorsed continued military aid to Ukraine at a March 2025 summit, Hungary alone refused: Orbán’s argument was that Europe cannot finance the war without U.S. support, and that Trump’s push for peace talks offers the only viable path.
Hungary awaits a permanent U.S. ambassador in Budapest (Palladino is currently serving ad interim). Yet the U.S.-Hungary reset is genuine and carries greater geopolitical weight than many expected. Whether or not Budapest ends up hosting the next meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelensky, the fact that the possibility was floated is itself a significant indicator of how profoundly the international dynamic has shifted. After years of tension under Biden, Hungary will be a key player in the days and years to come.