Donald Trump Jr. has hailed the strong personal relationship between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and US President Donald Trump as a potential foundation for deepening economic ties between the two countries.

“My job is to connect governments and the private sector,” he told a selected group of business leaders at a closed-door forum in Budapest on April 24,  organised by financial website Portfolio.hu. The visit formed part of the "Trump Business Vision 2025" roadshow, focusing on scouting investment opportunities throughout the region.

Trump Jr. said that whereas last summer he had been part of his father’s campaign team, this time he was visiting Budapest on business.

In a video interview published on April 28, he told Portfolio.hu that he was constantly on the lookout for new business opportunities. "One never knows when a Trump real estate deal might arise".

Trump Jr. began his presentation by heaping praise on Hungary and its Central European peers for their successful transformation from Communist times and their "common sense policies."

Drawing on his personal history, he described how his political awareness was shaped from an early age. Spending summers in Communist Czechoslovakia as a child, he vividly recalled being taken aside at a Prague customs in the 1980s for wearing a star-spangled jacket. “I was grabbed by a soldier with an AK-47 and was asked if I was here to spread US propaganda,” he said.

Eastern Europe, once looked down upon, has shown a remarkable transformation. Hungary, with its clean streets and strong leadership, stands out as a beacon of hope, a bastion of Western values on a continent struggling with its identity, he added. Criticising the liberal migration policies of Western European countries, he praised Hungary’s refusal to let in migrants. The Orban government was fined €200mn by the EU’s top court for its failure to comply with an earlier ruling on asylum and return, and had to pay a penalty of €1mn per day of delay.

Donald Trump’s eldest son called this "one of the best deals of modern diplomacy."

He argued that the United States is undergoing a necessary economic pivot to reduce its dependence on China. He pointed to Central and Eastern Europe, and Hungary in particular, as key partners in this shift.

The speaker voiced optimism that the long-standing personal trust between his family and Viktor Orban would open new opportunities for private sector cooperation, helping to make Hungary a bridge between East and West. While relations with the US suffered setbacks after 2020, he suggested that political shifts have now opened the door for renewed cooperation.

In a swipe at the Biden administration, Trump Jr. said US-Hungarian relations had suffered due to Washington’s hostility towards Orban’s nationalist policies and Trump affiliation. Nonetheless, he urged American businesses to recognise the investment potential in Hungary, singling out the pharmaceutical and technology sectors for closer cooperation.

In a wide-ranging Q&A, he also shared personal stories about his father, recalling how he set tough expectations for his children, rarely offered praise and insisted they work from a young age.

Turning to global issues, he said China, not Russia, poses the biggest threat to democracy. He defended the Trump administration’s hardline trade policies against Beijing. “There may be short-term pain, but we have to stick to our guns,” he said.

He sharply criticised Chinese investment practices as exploitative and harmful to recipient countries, which could be seen as thin criticism or a warning to Hungary for its strategic ties with China.

He pointed to American overdependence on China and Taiwan in critical industries such as pharmaceuticals and chip manufacturing and that  US must prepare for disruption. China's long-term strategy poses serious risks, he said.

America must rebuild its industrial base, even if reshoring strategic industries will take years. Companies had already committed billions to invest in the US, and similarly, many businesses had announced plans to shift production from China, referring to Apple’s decision to start manufacturing iPhones in India from 2026.

On cryptocurrencies, Trump Jr. described the sector as a major opportunity to democratise finance, while stressing the need for regulatory clarity to boost investor confidence. 

He also warned that America must not allow adversaries to outpace it in areas like artificial intelligence.