Hungary in Talks with US about a Special Bilateral Cooperation

In an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that it is regrettable that the EU did not make any attempt to achieve an effective solution to the problem of the US tariffs.

He reminded that it had been known since last November that the new US president would pursue a distinctly patriotic political and economic strategy, and that it was to be expected that he would introduce tariffs. On this basis, Hungary has proposed to the European Commission to start negotiations with Washington on how to avoid a tariff war between the EU and the US.

The specific proposal was to equalize tariffs in the automotive sector, a key sector for both economies, and for the European Union to unilaterally reduce tariffs on automotive products imported from the United States from 10 percent to 2.5 percent,

the Minister explained. This would have brought them to a level playing field, as before Trump’s new provision, the US applied a 2.5 percent tariff on automotive imports from Europe, he recalled.

Unfortunately, the current challenging times clearly show that the Brussels institutions are not capable of effective governance and are not able to develop solutions that benefit the European Union, Mr Szijjártó stated, stressing that this is not the first time this has happened, as the examples of the coronavirus epidemic, migration and the war in Ukraine have shown.

Although customs policy is a Community competence, Hungary has been negotiating with the United States for several months on a special bilateral cooperation agreement, which also has economic elements,

he said.

I spoke to @BloombergTV about US tariffs as well. Everybody knew what was coming. Yet, the @EU_Commission failed to act. A simple, strategic move on car tariffs could have opened the door to talks with the Trump administration. pic.twitter.com/AJI9w4kexG

— Péter Szijjártó (@FM_Szijjarto) April 8, 2025

Asked by the reporter whether – given the current cordial US-Hungarian relations – Budapest was disappointed by the fact that the United States partly justifies the tariffs imposed on the European Union on the grounds of corruption in Hungary, the Foreign Minister said that there was a lot of fake news circulating on the issue. He recalled that they are talking about the annual report of the United States Trade Representative, which was compiled last year during the presidency of Joe Biden. He pointed out that the Biden administration was very hostile to Hungary, as was the previous US ambassador, David Pressman, and that these reports were compiled based on information from US embassies. Péter Szijjártó added that he was sure that the next report would have a very different content.

In response to a question about the soft power influence that Chinese investments may have on the economy, Péter Szijjártó underlined that China has never involved political issues in economic investments, and has never attached political expectations to its investments in Hungary.

Hungary accounts for 44 percent of Chinese investment in Europe, and the reason is that we are the only European country – apart from Germany – that is home to the three major German car manufacturers, all of which work with Chinese suppliers,

he reminded.

Speaking about his many visits to Russia since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the Foreign Minister emphasized that only negotiations could bring a way out of the conflict. Hungary has important cooperation with Russia in the energy sector, not for political reasons but for physical and infrastructural reasons. As he pointed out, we cannot cut ourselves off from Russia because otherwise we would not be able to supply the country with energy. Mr Szijjártó stressed that Russia has so far proved to be a reliable partner in energy supply, and the government have not received a more reliable and cheaper offer from anyone else.

Regarding Hungary’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, the Minister stressed that the body has become a political institution, and the arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister is clearly politically motivated. We do not want to be involved in this, and that is why we have withdrawn, he said. In this context, Péter Szijjártó stated that however, there is no question about Hungary’s membership of the European Union. We see ourselves as a member of the EU in the future, although we would like to see certain reforms introduced, because the EU is not competitive enough at the moment, he concluded.

Via Bloomberg, MTI, Featured photo via Facebook/Péter Szijjártó