Polish President Andrzej Duda met with U.S. President Donald Trump shortly before the latter gave his speech to attendees of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference just outside Washington, D.C., on Saturday.
The White House posted photos of the meeting on X, which show the two leaders together, with Trump flanked by his national security adviser, Mike Waltz.
In a short summary of the meeting, the White House said, “Backstage at CPAC, President Trump met with President Andrzej Duda of Poland and reaffirmed our close alliance. President Trump also praised President [Andrzej Duda] for Poland’s commitment to increase their defense spending.”
Trump also later praised Duda in his CPAC speech, calling the Polish president “a fantastic man, and a great friend of mine.”
Poland is a close ally of the United States and has publicly supported Trump’s call for NATO countries to increase their defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product. That goal was previously set at 2%, a goal that 24 of the 32 countries in NATO have met.
Shortly before Trump’s inauguration, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz cast aside criticism of Trump’s NATO defense spending proposal, saying the U.S. president “should not be criticized for setting a really ambitious target because otherwise there will be some countries that will continue to debate whether more spending is really needed.”
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However, he acknowledged that it was ambitious and “will take another decade” to achieve.
Duda’s meeting with Trump makes him the first European leader to meet with the U.S. president since Trump took office in January.
