U.S. and Polish Presidents Sign Agreements on U.S. Forces; Trump Urges Friendship with Russia, China

June 12, 2019 (EIRNS)—Today, President Donald Trump and the First Lady received Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife at the White House, where the two leaders met, and then held a joint press conference. Duda now proceeds to Houston for energy talks there with Energy Secretary Rick Perry and others, and then continues on his six-day visit to the U.S.

Trump and Duda announced that they signed two agreements. One is on military relations, in which the U.S. has agreed to station 1,000 troops in Poland. Poland plans to buy a number of F-35 fighter jets. The other memorandum concerns collaboration against crime, which they referred to as preparatory to Poland gaining visa-free status with the United States at some early time. Another focus was on Poland expanding its purchases of U.S. LNG, and expanding its facilities as a gas transfer hub. This was discussed as allowing Poland to not be reliant on a single supplier—namely Russia.

An exceptional moment at the press conference came when a reporter asked Duda, “Is Russia an ally or adversary of Poland?” Trump interjected, “Boy, that was a set-up question.” Then, after Duda spoke for some time, stressing how Poland was “part of the West,” and Russia has shown “its unkind, imperial face” in the way it has attacked Georgia, then in 2014 attacked Ukraine. At this time, Trump intervened. He interrupted the reporter, and said: “I hope that Poland is going to have a great relationship with Russia. I hope we’re going to have a great relationship with Russia and, by the way, China and many other countries....”