US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Polish President Andrzej Duda in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Sunday, according to two sources familiar with the plan.
The double appearance has not yet been finalized, said one of the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss plans that are still private. But if the double appearance goes ahead, it would mark a rare instance of a foreign leader appearing alongside a U.S. presidential candidate on the campaign trail.
Duda, whose term expires in 2025, was one of Trump’s preferred international partners during his presidency from 2017 to 2021 and they have described themselves as friends. The two last met in New York in April.
Duda’s foreign ministry chief Malgorzata Paprocka said the Polish president’s office had not initiated a meeting with Trump and had not confirmed that it would take place.
He said both Duda and Trump had been invited by the organisers to the unveiling of a Monument to Solidarity.
“Whether President Trump will be there, I don’t have 100 percent confirmation at this point. We, as the office of the president, are not the organizers of this meeting.”
A who’s who of world leaders is expected to arrive in the United States in the coming days for the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.
Many foreign delegations have already reached out to allies of the former president in an attempt to connect with Trump or his foreign policy advisers, according to several people familiar with those conversations.
At a town hall in Michigan on Tuesday night, Trump said he would meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week.
One of the sources said Trump and Duda were scheduled to appear at a Polish-American Catholic shrine in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia. News of the visit was first reported by LevittownNow.com, a local news outlet in Pennsylvania.
Trump’s campaign and the Polish embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Americans of Eastern European descent have emerged as a coveted voting bloc for both Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
During a debate in Philadelphia in early September, Harris referred to Pennsylvania’s Polish-American population, while suggesting that Trump would not be a staunch defender of Poland if it were attacked by Russia.
Trump’s campaign has rejected that characterization, saying only Trump can effectively negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
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