Polish President Andrzej Duda discussed Ukraine and the Middle East with US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a meeting in New York on Wednesday, with the former US president saying he is “behind Poland all the way”.
Duda, whose term expires in 2025, was one of Trump’s preferred international partners during his 2017-2021 presidency, and they called themselves friends. In contrast, many other European leaders have long feared that a second Trump presidency would mean less US support for Poland’s eastern neighbour, Ukraine, and the NATO military alliance.
Trump told reporters as Duda arrived at Trump Tower:
The people of Poland love him (Duda)… and that’s not an easy thing to accomplish, but he’s done a fantastic job and he’s my friend. We had four great years together. We’re behind Poland all the way.
Following the almost two and a half hour meeting, Mr. Duda said only that it was a “friendly meeting in very nice atmosphere”.
His aide, Wojciech Kolarski, also in attendance, described it as an “excellent meeting” of “two friends who reminisced on the time when for four years they cooperated while holding presidential offices,” a time that was “very fruitful for Polish-US relations”.
Mr. Duda is the latest foreign leader to meet with Trump in the weeks since he locked up the Republican nomination.
Trump’s campaign said in a report on the meeting that they discussed Duda’s proposal that NATO members spend at least 3% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. The current minimum is 2 per cent. The campaign added:
They also discussed the war in Ukraine, the conflict with Israel in the Middle East, and many other topics having to do with getting to world peace.
Duda is in New York to attend the United Nations and will travel to Canada on Friday.
