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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.
President Andrzej Duda has accused Prime Minister Donald Tusk of spreading “lies and manipulation” after Tusk suggested that Duda was willing to give up Poland’s copper supplies to the United States if Donald Trump demanded them in return for military support.
Wyrażona przez Donalda Tuska sugestia to kłamstwo i manipulacja. Czy tak zachowuje się poważny i odpowiedzialny premier kraju? pic.twitter.com/LuiQ73ret7
— Andrzej Duda (@AndrzejDuda) March 5, 2025
Duda, a conservative aligned with the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, and Tusk, a centrist, are longstanding opponents. The president has regularly criticised the actions of the government and has vetoed some of the bills passed by the ruling coalition.
However, on issues relating to defence and security, Duda and Tusk have generally tried to present a united front, including jointly visiting the White House last year when Joe Biden was still president.
On Wednesday, in an interview with broadcaster TVN, Duda, who is a close ally of Trump, was asked whether there would come a day when the US president says: “Do you want American troops in Poland? Give me your copper.”
Poland has some of the world’s largest copper reserves, with an estimated 4% of the entire world’s deposits. In his negotiations with neighbouring Ukraine, Trump has demanded access to minerals in return for US support.
In response to TVN’s question, Duda said: “If President Donald Trump is in a situation where, I don’t know, he spends hundreds of billions of dollars on support for Poland, it’s hard for me to say what expectations he will have of us. However, for now, we don’t have such a situation.”
“I hope that such a situation will not arise, because for now he [Trump] calls us a very responsible ally, he says that it is rather he who has obligations towards Poland, because he himself said recently that he feels obliged towards Poland,” added Duda.
Last month, on a visit to Warsaw, Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, called Poland a “model ally”. Shortly afterwards, Duda became the first European leader to meet with Trump since his return to the White House.
Poland’s President @AndrzejDuda met with @realDonaldTrump today on the sidelines of @CPAC.
The @WhiteHouse said afterwards that the meeting had “reaffirmed our close alliance” and that Trump praised Poland’s high level of defence spending https://t.co/8P2uztujJm
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) February 22, 2025
After Duda’s comments to TVN, Tusk wrote on X that “President Duda’s publicly expressed suggestion that we could give our Polish copper to the Americans in exchange for their support is a step too far”.
That prompted a response from Duda on the same platform, writing: “The suggestion expressed by Donald Tusk is a lie and manipulation. Is this how a serious and responsible prime minister of the country behaves?”
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: KPRM (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
