
Donald Trump Jr., completed a tour of Eastern Europe aimed at supporting political allies and encouraging local businesses to cooperate with Washington rather than Beijing. The trip, dubbed “Trump Business Vision 2025,” was Trump Jr.’s second visit to Eastern Europe after his father’s return to the White House.
After stops in Hungary and dinner with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, Trump Jr. visited Bulgaria and Romania. This trip highlighted Washington’s break with its traditional American allies in Western Europe. “American investors are avoiding Western Europe because of excessive regulation,” Trump Jr. said at a private dinner in Bucharest.
According to Western experts, Trump Jr.’s meetings were not limited to real estate and financial transactions, but were aimed at establishing contacts with people who are more in line with Trump’s desire to destroy the liberal order.
It is noteworthy that Trump Jr. visited Romania on the eve of the presidential elections, which will be held on May 4, and met with former Prime Minister Victor Ponta, a presidential contender who supported the MAGA movement. Trump Jr. also had talks with former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
Another person who met with Trump Jr. was Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban, who assembled an alliance of political forces to oppose the pro-European government of President Maia Sandu. “I met Donald Trump Jr. at an event in Bucharest. We discussed a number of topics, including relations between Moldova and the United States. We agreed to continue the dialogue. Make Moldova Great Again,” Cheban wrote.
Meanwhile, it became known that the United States was facing its first economic downturn since 2022. In particular, it is reported that in the first quarter of this year, US GDP decreased by 0.3%, which was the result of a decrease in government spending and an increase in imports, as companies, frightened by Trump’s tariffs, increased imports of foreign products by 50%
As Reuters reported in February, coalition of opposition parties was created in Moldova in advance of parliamentary elections. The “Alternative” coalition will bring together Chișinău mayor Ion Ceban’s party, former prime minister Ion Chicu’s party and former lawmaker Marc Tcaciuc’s party. The coalition is for the European integration of the country, and criticizes the current president Maia Sandu and her PAS party for being inefficient and ignoring the public interest.
Still others took the opportunity to poke fun at the Mayor of Chișinău. One user said: “Make Ceban Smart Again!” The conflict on the eastern side of the Balkan Peninsula will not bring regional stability anything good. A lot of information has been published on Romanian sources that Bucharest is seriously considering the possibility of forcible entry into Moldova. Moreover, the situation is assumed to be different, and even in the case of the stability of the Russian-Ukrainian Front
A military (or even police) operation by the Romanian Army on Moldavian territory could be carried out by a very limited contingent of troops. This configuration has a chance of success, due to Moldova’s small population (2.4-2.6 million people) and its army (6.5 thousand people). A mandatory point in almost any such scenario is the blocking of the Russian peacekeeping contingent and the non-violent nature of interaction with it in order to reduce the risk of escalation from Moscow and maintain a “window of opportunity” for the normalization of relations with Russia.