Poland will work to strengthen ties with the US under incoming President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on November 7.

Tusk, who spoke to reporters shortly before departing to Budapest for a meeting with other European leaders to discuss the implications of Trump's victory, also said the former president was a “controversial” candidate but now the outcome of the election is a “sanctity that we must respect”.

Trump’s victory is far from what Tusk and Poland’s incumbent government would have wanted. Warsaw is worried that Trump is capable of making abrupt decisions that would end the West’s involvement in Ukraine, forcing Kyiv to concede occupied territories to Russia and effectively giving the Kremlin time to regroup before attacking Ukraine again.

After Ukraine, Warsaw has long said, Russia might zero in on eastern Nato countries like the Baltic States and Poland itself.

Poland has long said that helping Ukraine is in its interest, as it drains the Russian economy of power, giving Poland time to better prepare for a potential conflict. In an attempt to pre-empt any threats stemming from Trump’s proclaimed isolationist policy, Poland needs to make sure its relations with the US are as good as ever, Tusk hinted.

"If we expect certain shifts or turbulence in geopolitics … it is all the more important for both Europe and Poland to effectively foster the best possible transatlantic relations," the Polish PM said.

"Poland’s interests are clearly defined and consistent... and these will guide my decisions,” Tusk also said.

Poland is among Nato members that actually heeded Trump’s call from his first term in the Oval Office to spend more on defence. The country is now a top Nato spender relative to GDP and has urged other European nations to follow suit.

“Europe must urgently take greater responsibility for its security,” Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told journalists on November 6, shortly after it became clear Trump won the election.

Poland is the only Nato country that borders Ukraine, Russia’s ally Belarus, and Russia itself. Warsaw has recently begun work on a PLN10bn (€2.5bn) “Shield East”, a defence line along its borders with Belarus and Russia and has spent tens of billions of new equipment and weapons, including from US manufacturers.

Experts say, however, that Poland needs time to reform the army and work out strategic defence plans in case of a conflict with Russia and Belarus. That could take until 2030 but the timeline is in doubt now if the Trump presidency allows Russia to prevail in Ukraine and focus on rebuilding its potential.

Until May next year, the Tusk government will be working with Trump alongside President Andrzej Duda, who sees Trump’s victory as an opportunity for his Law and Justice (PiS) party to rebound after losing power in last year’s parliamentary election.

To that end, Duda is now rumoured to be planning to invite Trump to Poland in the first half of 2025, before the end of the Polish president’s second and final term in office.

“President [Duda] has excellent relations with the American leader and it would be good if such a visit took place before the end of his term,” a source close to Duda told Polish Radio on November 6.

Poland also has economic worries about Trump. The Republican candidate has proposed introducing tariffs, cutting taxes, and tightening migration policies – measures which, economists say, are likely to drive up inflation and delay further interest rate cuts. 

That, in turn, would strengthen the dollar and weaken emerging-market currencies, including the Polish zloty, ING said in a recent analysis, forecasting the zloty to weaken to 4.40-4.45 against the dollar from the current level of just over 4.

Escalating trade wars could also lead to higher costs for servicing Poland’s debt, ING said.