Poland’s President Duda meets Trump on sidelines of CPAC

Feb 22, 2025 | Defence, Politics

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda today flew to the United States to meet with Donald Trump on the sidelines of CPAC, a major conservative conference. The White House said afterwards that the meeting had “reaffirmed our close alliance” and that Trump praised Poland’s high level of defence spending.

However, although the pair were scheduled to speak for an hour, they ended up having just a few minutes together because Trump’s arrival was delayed and he subsequently had to give a speech at CPAC.

News of the planned meeting was first reported unofficially by Polish media on Friday and then was officially confirmed on Saturday afternoon, a few hours before it took place.

It means Duda became the first European leader to meet in person with Trump during the US president’s second term. Later this week, Trump will host France’s Emmanuel Macron and the UK’s Kier Starmer – though, unlike Duda, both will hold talks at the White House.

 

Duda and Trump were scheduled to begin meeting at 7:30 p.m. Polish time (1:30 p.m. in Washington, DC) and speak for an hour, with the US president then due to address CPAC immediately afterwards.

However, though the Polish president arrived as scheduled, Trump’s departure from the White House was delayed. By the time their meeting started, shortly before 8:30 p.m. Polish time, that left only a few minutes for them to speak.

Duda subsequently sat in the first row for Trump’s speech at CPAC, during which the US president told the audience they were “honoured to be joined” by the Polish president, “who’s a fantastic man and a great friend of mine”.

Speaking afterwards, Duda said that, during their meeting, Trump had “confirmed that he envisages strengthening the American presence in Poland” and had “said that we are one of the absolutely best allies”.

That echoed the sentiment expressed by Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, during a visit to Warsaw last week, where he hailed Poland as a “model ally’

Referring to the brief length of the meeting, Duda – who has long had close relations with Trump – noted that they last year met for a two-and-a-half-hour private meeting in Trump Tower.

“I am satisfied with [today’s] conversation because we discussed the topics that mattered to me,” said Duda, adding that Trump had also pledged to visit Poland, though no date has yet been established.

The Polish president said that Trump had told him he was determined to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, and that the only way to do this was to talk to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Duda yesterday spoke by telephone with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, another close ally, whom he urged to “trust” in Trump’s desire and ability to bring peace.


Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Marek Borawski/KPRP

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