Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Tuesday, 27 October, she announced on Monday, marking the first bilateral visit by a minister of Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s new government. The State Department’s advance schedule lists the meeting, but neither side has disclosed an agenda.
‘Tomorrow I will hold talks in Washington with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio,’ Orbán wrote in a Facebook post. The visit comes as Budapest seeks to preserve the economic and security cooperation developed under former prime minister Viktor Orbán, who was the closest and longest-standing European ally of President Donald Trump, despite Hungary’s ongoing diplomatic realignment.
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Among the most pressing issues is Hungary’s US sanctions exemption for Russian oil and gas, negotiated by Trump and Viktor Orbán during their November 2025 meeting at the White House. Anita Orbán said in September that the one-year waiver expires on 21 November and that Budapest is working hard to extend it, mainly because more time is needed to adapt infrastructure for diversified supplies.
Investment and defence agreements inherited from the previous government may also feature. The White House previously announced $500 million in American crude oil purchases by Hungarian energy company MOL, proposals for up to ten US small modular reactors and plans to procure $700 million in HIMARS missile systems. Anita Orbán has previously expressed her intention to advance these agreements, making them natural potential items on the agenda.
‘The visit comes as Budapest seeks to preserve the economic and security cooperation developed under former prime minister Viktor Orbán’
NATO, Ukraine and regional security are also expected to be on the table on Tuesday, particularly as these issues were also discussed during talks with a bipartisan US congressional delegation in July.
The visit, mainly because of the special relationship between Viktor Orbán and Trump, carries far greater significance than a usual bilateral foreign ministerial meeting. During his February visit to Budapest, Rubio praised the ‘golden era’ of Hungarian–American relations and assured Viktor Orbán of Trump’s commitment to his success, just weeks before the election that ended 16 years of Fidesz rule. Vice President JD Vance also visited Budapest in April, days before the vote, endorsing Orbán and Fidesz, while Trump took to Truth Social to repeatedly endorse his ally.
Nevertheless, Anita Orbán maintained in September that Washington’s earlier support for Fidesz and Viktor Orbán had not undermined relations with the new government. She also revealed that preparations for a bilateral meeting were already under way following informal discussions with Rubio and his deputies in New York during the United Nations General Assembly a month earlier.
The diplomatic opening comes despite Budapest’s declared departure from the foreign-policy orientation that had helped establish such close ties with Washington. As Hungarian Conservative reported in August, the newly appointed leadership of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs announced a ‘complete break’ with what they described as a MAGA-oriented direction associated with Viktor Orbán’s former political director, Balázs Orbán, instead placing the European Union at the centre of Hungary’s diplomatic strategy.
‘Anita Orbán maintained…that Washington’s earlier support for…Viktor Orbán had not undermined relations with the new government’
A more uncomfortable issue, however, could also be discussed between Orbán and Rubio. Just a day before the announcement, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump wants Viktor Orbán to consider becoming the next UN secretary-general, potentially as a joint candidate backed by Washington, Moscow and Beijing.
While this remains at the level of speculation, such a decision could immediately and significantly damage cooperation between Washington and Budapest. The new government is pursuing accountability for alleged corruption and abuses of power during Fidesz–KDNP’s 16 years in office. Speaking to the Associated Press last week, Magyar reiterated his goal of recovering misused public assets and holding former officials accountable, while Orbán’s former minister and the ex-governor of Hungary’s central bank, György Matolcsy, was arrested last week, raising the number of detained former ministers to three.
Any initiative similar to what The Wall Street Journal reported would directly run counter to that agenda, which happens to be Tisza’s main election campaign promise.
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