Beijing is a ‘red line’: Hungary vows it won’t decouple from China if pushed by Trump
‘Hungary is benefiting from these very intensive Chinese economic and trade relations. We’re not willing to give that up’: Budapest official
Decoupling from China is a “red line” in Hungary’s relations with the United States, a deputy minister has said, in rare remarks clarifying Budapest’s thinking on its close ties with both superpowers.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has spent years cementing his position as Europe’s most pro-Trump and pro-China leader. With the US government now suggesting that its allies must choose between the two, many speculate that Budapest could find itself in an awkward position.
“Definitely not. That’s a red line for us, we’re having excellent trade relations with China, and China has become one of the biggest investors in Hungary,” said Levente Magyar, a deputy minister for foreign affairs and trade, when asked in Brussels on Thursday if Hungary was willing to decouple from China, “if that’s what Trump wants”.
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“We are highly over-represented, considering our population and the size of our economy. So Hungary is benefiting from these very intensive Chinese economic and trade relations. We’re not willing to give that up,” Magyar said.
“Eventually, [Orban] will have to make a choice,” a senior EU official told the South China Morning Post after last year’s US election. “It’s Trump or China. We don’t know which one he would choose.”
Big Chinese companies such as CATL, the global leader in batteries, and BYD, the world’s biggest EV maker, have invested heavily in the central European country. CATL’s €7.3 billion (US$7.8 billion) plant in the eastern city of Debrecen is expected to start production this year. BYD’s Hungarian facility is also set to start producing EVs this year.
Magyar made the remarks on arrival at a meeting of EU trade ministers in Brussels, where officials are discussing a package in retaliation to Trump’s tariffs, as well as a suite of economic security policies aimed at reducing the risk of technology spillages to China.
European officials have broadly welcomed the move, which they believe may ease the threat of redirected, cut-price Chinese shipments hitting European ports and imperilling local producers.
“We are seeing elements of de-escalation on the American side. The US has begun conversations with China. They reached a sort of an agreement with [the] UK, and that’s a good sign – negotiations with the EU are speeding up,” said Michal Baranowski, Poland’s deputy minister for development and technology.
“The agreement with China is a good first step when it comes to de-escalation of tensions … it’s good for us as well because Europe is very focused on trade diversion. With US-China tensions de-escalating, we’re less likely to see it in Europe,” Baranowski said.
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The deal was welcomed at the EU level too, with the bloc’s economy chief, Valdis Dombrovskis, describing it as “heading in the right direction”.
“Obviously, this easing of trade tensions between the US and China is heading in the right direction but it is worth noting that the 30 per cent tariffs, which the US would continue to apply to Chinese goods, also in this 90-day period, is still quite a high tariff level and correspondingly trade distortive,” the Latvian commissioner said.
“But of course it may ease, somewhat, the trade diversion concerns we had.”