Polish President Andrzej Duda was determined to be the first European head of state to visit US President Donald Trump after his reelection.

The two men had enjoyed a close relationship during the first Trump term from 2017 to 2021, and Duda even visited Trump in New York in April 2024 when Trump was running for reelection.

This time, however, things were very different, and Duda's trip across the Atlantic was a disaster for the Polish president.

Brief meeting at CPAC

Trump left the Polish president waiting for 90 minutes on Saturday and then gave him just 10 minutes of his time on the sidelines of the CPAC summit of conservative activists and politicians near Washington DC.

TV coverage showed Duda waiting impatiently for the US president in a VIP area. Afterwards, he sat in the front row and clapped as Trump addressed the conference.

Trump described Duda as a "fantastic man" and praised him for the fact that 84% of Polish-American voters had backed him in the US election 2024.

All of this was in stark contrast to how French President Emmanuel Macron was received at the White House on Monday.

Macron was welcomed with full presidential pomp, with the two heads of state holding a press conference together after their meeting.

A humiliation or a success?

Poland's press was clear about what it all meant. Polish daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita called Duda's reception it a "humiliation" and a "cold shower," adding that Trump had treated Duda, who will leave office in the summer, like a "lame duck."

"In Trump's new world," it continued, "Poland is not a subject, let alone a key player."

Duda "should not have flown" to Washington concluded another Polish daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, asking whether the whole point of the visit had been just to see Trump slapping Duda on the back and praising him as a loyal ally.

Others back home in Poland were not so dismissive of the meeting.

"We achieved everything we wanted to achieve," said Marcin Mastalerek, head of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic, after Duda's return from Washington.

Jaroslaw Cwiek-Karpowicz, head of the Polish Institute of International Affairs agreed that it was good that the meeting took place: "When dealing with Trump, every second counts," he said.

Speaking to the press after his meeting with Trump, Duda put a positive spin on the encounter, saying that the US president told him "he would rather expect a boost of US presence concerning Poland."

Duda added that Trump assured him that as Poland was one of the US's "most credible allies," Duda should not be worried.

The Polish president was careful not to voice any criticism of the American president and declined to answer journalists' questions about Trump's recent false comments that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a dictator and that the US had provided more aid to Ukraine than the European Union. 

The Polish dilemma

The visit certainly trained a spotlight on the Polish dilemma: Poland, which is on NATO's eastern flank, sees the United States as its most important, if not the only reliable guarantee of its security.

At the same time, Poland has supported Ukraine in its fight against Russia from day one of the Russian invasion and sees Russian President's Vladimir Putin war against Ukraine as an existential threat.

Above all, the opposition national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party is in an awkward position. PiS is a full-throated supporter of Trump's conservative MAGA ("Make America Great Again") movement. After Trump's election victory was announced last November, PiS lawmakers applauded demonstratively in the Polish parliament.

However, Trump's new policy toward Ukraine and his conciliatory approach to Putin — both of which are alarming Poles — mean that PiS is walking a tightrope between its admiration for Trump and its support for Ukraine.

Tusk keen to maintain good ties with Washington

After the criticism of JD Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski stood up for the US vice president.

Poland, said Kaczynski, had to choose: Either the country would lead the European understanding with the US government or it would inspire anti-American forces across the continent. "Tusk is showing that he prefers to be a leader of the anti-American revolt in Europe," he claimed.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's center-left government is indeed grappling with how to deal with the new Trump administration.

Tusk last week attended the conference in Paris, where European leaders discussed how they would respond if America stopped supporting Ukraine. Neverthless, even Tusk's government has no intention of cutting its good ties with Washington

Poland: top spender on defense

But members of Trump's new cabinet in any case seem to see Poland as a preferred partner in Europe.

Poland was the first foreign port of call for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in mid-February. While there, Hegseth showered praise on this NATO ally, saying that Poland was the country that understood the US best and could act as a link between his country and Europe.

US Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg even stopped in Warsaw on his way to Kyiv.

Poland is seen as a model ally among NATO member states, aiming to spend 4.7% of its GDP (gross domestic product) on defense this year. Over 10,000 American soldiers are stationed at a number of different locations around the country. The USA is also the Polish army's most important arms supplier, and Poland also remains the central hub for Western military aid for Ukraine. 

USA: guarantor of Polish security

From Poland's perspective, the USA remains the country's most important guarantor of security.

The comments on transatlantic relations made by Friedrich Merz, the man most likely to be Germany's next chancellor, on the night of the German general election are viewed with skepticism in Warsaw.

Speaking on German television, Merz said that for him, "the absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can achieve real independence from the US."

Looking to the NATO summit at the end of June, Merz questioned whether "we will still be talking about NATO in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defence capability much more quickly."

But as many differences as they have, the government and the opposition in Poland agree on one thing: Polish soldiers should not be involved in a peace mission in Ukraine. With a presidential election due to take place there in May/June, the domestic pressure is simply too great.

In a survey conducted by IBRiS, 76% of respondents said they were against a Polish mission of that kind and just under 18% said they were in favor.

Despite what happened in Washington at the weekend, Duda's faith in Trump doesn't seem to have taken a dent.

Trump will "not sell Ukraine," he assured the Polish television channel Polsat News after his visit. 

This article was originally published in German.