Second administration of D. Trump and Central and Eastern European countries: traditional patron-client relations in a new geopolitical context

Abstract

The article highlights the process of formation and features of the US foreign policy course towards the region of Central and Eastern Europe in 2025 in the conditions of the coming to power of the second administration of D. Trump. It was determined that the countries of the region, as well as Europe as a whole, did not make it to the list of foreign policy priorities of the new US administration, but US attention to the region remained, which was largely determined by Trump`s attempts to achieve a settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian war, as well as the commercial interests of Washington. The Trump administration traditionally perceived the CEE countries as their satellites, and therefore built relations with them based on the patron-client model. This was facilitated by a significant asymmetry in resources and geopolitical influence between the United States and these countries and their dependence on US security guarantees within NATO. Using uncertainty over plans to reduce US military presence and support as a tool of pressure, Washington has put four key patronage demands on Eastern European governments – to procure US weapons, liquefied gas and nuclear technology, increase defense spending and limit economic ties with China. In turn, the governments of the CEE countries, with the exception of Hungary, almost immediately took a conformist position and tried to appease Washington with various economic preferences and projects in strategic areas. It was found that the basis of the agenda of relations between the USA and the CEE countries with the coming to power of the second Trump administration drew up issues and projects of cooperation in the fields of defense and energy, as well as the war in Ukraine, and the main attention of the United States in the region was paid to Poland. Also in 2025, the ideological factor that manifested itself in the open support of the new US administration for far-right and right-wing conservative forces in the CEE countries, especially during election campaigns, played a significant role in US politics in the region.