US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday.
"We're looking at it because it's very difficult for him to get the oil and gas from other areas," Trump told reporters on Friday during a meeting where he welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to the White House.
The United States hit Russia's two biggest oil producers with sanctions last month, the first such measures targeting Moscow since Trump returned to the White House, in a bid to end the war in Ukraine.
Hungary — the closest ally in the European Union of both Trump and the Kremlin — depends heavily on Russian oil and gas despite EU efforts to wean itself off.
Orban — who is accompanied by a large delegation that includes six ministers — said he would seek a sanctions waiver on Russian energy.
The Hungarian leader said he would explain to Trump the "consequences" for Hungarian people without Russian oil and gas.
"Because we are supplied by pipelines. Pipeline is not an ideological or political issue. It's a physical reality because we don't have port(s)," Orban said.
In a recent interview with Italy's La Repubblica daily, Orban has deemed Trump made a mistake "from the Hungarian point of view".
"Hungary depends very much on Russian oil and gas. Without them, energy prices will skyrocket, causing shortages in our reserves," he said.
The two are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine. Budapest had been tapped last month to host a US-Russia summit but Trump called it off before a date was set.
'Always a chance' for meeting with Putin
"Since President Trump's re-election, new perspectives have opened up in Hungarian-American relations," Orban said on social media on Thursday before leaving for Washington, hailing a "new chapter".
Orban visited his "dear friend" Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida three times last year, but the US president's return to power has had a mixed effect on Hungary.
Washington has withdrawn sanctions against top Orban aide Antal Rogan and restored the country's status in a visa waiver scheme.
But Trump's tariffs against the European Union have hit Hungary's export-oriented car industry hard, contributing to an already weak economy.
Meanwhile, Trump held out hope that he will meet again with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, after a summit in Budapest, Hungary was abruptly called off last month.
"There is always a chance," Trump said.
The US president later said in the Cabinet Room that the reason the sit-down did not materialise is because the Russians "don't want to stop yet."
"I think they will. I think that's it's taken a big toll on Russia, big toll on both countries, obviously, but it's taken a big toll," he said.
Asked if he would like to maintain Budapest as the locale for any potential future sit-down with Putin, Trump responded affirmatively.
"I'd like to keep it in Hungary, in Budapest. That meeting, it turned out I didn't want to do that meeting because I didn't think anything was going to be happening of significance. But if we have it, I'd like to do it in Budapest, yeah, it'd be good," he said.
