As he arrived, Trump praised the Polish president, saying: “He’s done a fantastic job and he’s my friend”.
“We had four great years together,” Trump added. “We’re behind Poland all the way.”
Duda is the latest foreign leader to meet with Trump in the weeks since he locked up the Republican nomination.
US House to vote on Ukraine, Israel aid, setting up showdown among Republicans
US House to vote on Ukraine, Israel aid, setting up showdown among Republicans
US allies across the world were caught off guard by Trump’s surprise 2016 win, forcing them to scramble to build relationships with a president who often attacked long-standing treaties and alliances they valued. Setting up meetings with him during the 2024 campaign suggests they don’t want to be behind again.
Even as he goes on trial for one of the four criminal indictments against him, Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden are locked in a rematch that most observers expect will be exceedingly close in November.
While some in Poland worried the visit might damage the country’s relationship with Biden, Democrat Senator Chris Murphy, a Biden ally and a major voice in his party on foreign affairs, said such meetings make sense.
“The polls are close,” he said. “If I were a foreign leader – and there’s a precedent attached to meeting with candidates who are nominated or on the path to being nominated – I’d probably do it too.”
Murphy noted that former president Barack Obama did a lengthy international tour and met with foreign leaders when he first ran for the White House. So did Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who challenged Obama in 2012 and whose trip included a stop in Poland’s capital, Warsaw.
Duda’s visit comes a week after Trump met with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, another Nato member and key proponent of supporting Ukraine, at the former president’s Florida estate.
And last month, Trump hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an autocrat who has maintained the closest relationship with Russia among European Union countries. Orban shared a montage of footage of the visit on his Instagram feed, with included an image of him and his staff meeting with Trump and the former president’s aides in a scene that looked like an official bilateral meeting.
Trump also met briefly in February with Javier Milei, the fiery, right-wing populist president of Argentina who ran a campaign inspired by Trump, complete with red “Make Argentina Great Again” hats.
Milei gave Trump an excited hug backstage at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, according to video posted by a Trump campaign aide.
Trump won’t rock US-Japan alliance, ‘China to be dominant focus’ if re-elected
Trump won’t rock US-Japan alliance, ‘China to be dominant focus’ if re-elected
Biden administration officials have been careful not to weigh in publicly on foreign leaders’ meetings with Trump, acknowledging he has a real chance of winning the race.
While some officials have privately expressed frustration with such meetings, they are mindful that any criticism would open the US to charges of hypocrisy because senior American officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meet frequently with foreign opposition figures at various forums in the United States and abroad.
Security and policy officials monitor the travel plans of foreign officials visiting the US, but generally don’t have a say in where they go or with whom they meet, according to an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss protocol.
Trump has been back in his hometown this week for the start of his criminal hush money trial, which has dramatically limited his ability to travel and campaign.
Duda, a right-wing populist who once proposed naming a military base in his country “Fort Trump”, described the dinner earlier Wednesday as a private get-together between friends at Trump’s former residence while he is in town for meetings at the United Nations.
“I have been invited by Mr Donald Trump to his private apartment,” Duda told reporters, saying it was “a normal practice when one country has good relations with another country” to want those relations to be as strong as “possible with the representatives of various sides of the political stage”.
Duda’s visit comes as House Republicans wrangle over a US$95 billion foreign aid bill that would provide new funding to Ukraine, including money for the US military to replace depleting weapon supplies.
The Trump campaign said the two men discussed Duda’s proposal for Nato countries to increase their target for defence spending from two per cent of GDP to three per cent.
Trump has often criticised Nato and said its members do not pay what he calls their fair share.
“They also discussed the war between Russia and Ukraine, the conflict with Israel in the Middle East, and many other topics having to do with getting to world peace,” the Trump campaign said in a statement.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse