Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico on Sunday said he met US President Donald Trump, hailing “exceptionally important” talks for the EU and NATO member’s energy security.
The meeting comes at a time when Trump has threatened tariffs on goods from several European countries over opposition to his designs on Greenland. Slovakia is not on the list of targeted countries.
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Fico said the two leaders discussed the war in Ukraine and energy, among other issues, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Saturday.
He did not mention the issue of Greenland in a video posted on Twitter about the trip.
The talks were “sovereign, confident, and exceptionally important for Slovakia from the perspective of energy security,” Fico said.
On Friday, both countries signed a nuclear cooperation agreement, which “opens the door for talks” on US nuclear technology supplies to Slovakia, according to Fico.
The central European country of 5.4 million people plans to build a new nuclear reactor at its Jaslovske Bohunice plant northeast of the capital Bratislava “by 2040 to 2041”, according to Fico.
It would be Slovakia’s first US-designed reactor, as all previous ones are of Russian design.
It was Fico’s first meeting with the US president since Trump’s return to office last year.
The nationalist Slovak leader, who returned to office in 2023, is one of few EU leaders to also have fostered close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine since 2022.
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