{"id":4702,"date":"2026-06-16T15:50:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/?p=4702"},"modified":"2026-06-16T15:50:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:50:31","slug":"exclusive-serbian-president-vucic-says-support-for-us-surged-under-trump-invites-him-to-visit-belgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/?p=4702","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Serbian President Vu\u010di\u0107 says support for US ‘surged’ under Trump, invites him to visit Belgrade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 says relations between Serbia and the United States have undergone a dramatic transformation under President Donald Trump,\u00a0a shift he says has changed public perceptions in a country where memories of the 1999 NATO bombing campaign remain deeply rooted.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Vu\u010di\u0107 praised Trump’s approach to the balkans, arguing that the administration’s focus on economic cooperation rather than political pressure resonated with many Serbs. “President Trump and his team so far were working very diligently and dedicatedly on the Western Balkans,” Vu\u010di\u0107 said, adding that many Serbs view his administration very differently from previous U.S. governments.<\/p>\n

“If you ask people in Serbia just to make a comparison between Clinton and Trump’s administration, or Democrats to Republicans, you wouldn’t believe it,” Vu\u010di\u0107 said. “It would be 90 to 10 or 95 to 5.”<\/p>\n

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Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 21, 2023.\u00a0(Richard Drew\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The comparison is particularly striking in Serbia, where many still associate the United States with Nato’s 1999 bombing canpaign during the Kosovo conflict, launched to stop Serbian forces’ crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and which remains one of the most consequential events in modern Serbian history.<\/p>\n

Vu\u010di\u0107 said he recently extended an invitation to Trump to visit Serbia and predicted the American president would receive an enthusiastic welcome.<\/p>\n

“I hope that we’ll be able to host him,” Vu\u010di\u0107 said. “More people will be ready to greet him and wait for him than he might even expect\u2026I dare to say even more than hundreds of thousands of people.”<\/p>\n

The Serbian president said the improving relationship between Washington and Belgrade is increasingly centered on economics, investment and technological cooperation, and mutual conservative values.<\/p>\n

According to Vu\u010di\u0107, Serbia and the United States are preparing to launch a strategic dialogue that will focus on energy, infrastructure, artificial intelligence , defense cooperation and investment opportunities. Among the projects under discussion are\u00a0 energy infrastructure , liquefied natural gas cooperation, data centers and advanced computing technologies.<\/p>\n

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti at the White House in Washington, U.S., Sep. 4, 2020.\u00a0(Leah Millis\/Reuters)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The growing relationship comes as Serbia seeks to position itself as a regional economic hub while continuing its long-standing ambition of joining the European Union .<\/p>\n

Vu\u010di\u0107 pointed to preparations for Expo 2027 in Belgrade with nearly 150 participating countries, as evidence of Serbia’s growing international profile and economic ambitions.<\/p>\n

Vu\u010di\u0107, who has served as\u00a0 Serbia’s doinant political figure since becoming prime minister in 2014 and president in 2017, pointed to the country’s economic growth as evidence of its transformation. “Our GDP was 32 billion (euros) when I became the prime minister,” Vu\u010di\u0107 said. “This year it’s going to be over 100 billion euros., which is $120 billion.”<\/p>\n

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President Donald Trump and the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107\u00a0(\u00a0Credit: Al Drago for The Washington Post via Getty Images ; Mehmet Ali Ozcan\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Vu\u010di\u0107’s relationship with Trump dates back to the president’s first term, when the White House brokered a series of economic normalization agreements between Serbia and Kosovo. Rather than focusing first on the politically explosive question of Kosovo’s status, the Trump administration emphasized infrastructure projects, transportation links and investment aimed at improving ties between the two sides.<\/p>\n

In September 2020, Vu\u010di\u0107 and then-Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti signed U.S.-brokered economic agreements at the White House that included commitments to expand rail and highway connections and promote investment. Trump described the deal as a breakthrough achieved by focusing on “job creation and economic growth” rather than longstanding political disputes.<\/p>\n

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Serbian poster supporting Donald Trump near a portrait of the Serbian former Prime Minister and now president, Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 in Mitrovica, Kosovo.\u00a0\u00a0(Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Asked whether he would consider recognizing Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and has been recognized by the United States under President George W. Bush and most European countries, if doing so unlocked Serbia’s economic future and accelerated its path toward membership in the European Union, Vu\u010di\u0107 pushed back on the premise, arguing that economic cooperation and improved relations should come before discussions about political status.<\/p>\n

“<\/i>I’m not saying that I’m ready to violate my constitution\u2026 I have always been open to talks or compromising solutions, I have always been open to developing great economic ties and no doubt much better political ties. But I was not speaking about recognition of someone’s independence,” he said.<\/p>\n

While Serbia continues to pursue membership in the European Union, the country has also maintained ties with\u00a0Russia<\/a>\u00a0and China, a balancing act that has drawn scrutiny amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and growing geopolitical tensions worldwide.<\/p>\n

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio shakes hands with Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 as they meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, U.S., September 23, 2025.\u00a0(Charly Triballeau\/Pool via Reuters)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Asked whether Serbia could continue navigating between East and West in an increasingly divided world or would eventually need to choose a side, Vu\u010di\u0107 rejected the notion that countries must choose between competing geopolitical camps. Instead, he pointed to both his own visit to China and Trump’s engagement with Beijing as examples of what he described as pragmatic diplomacy focused on national interests.<\/p>\n

“President Trump didn’t go there because of his vanity,” Vu\u010di\u0107 said of Trump’s visit to China. “He brought with him all the leading people of the United States of America for making better businesses, for earning more money for their companies.”<\/p>\n

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BELGRADE, SERBIA – FEBRUARY 03: \u00a0Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 (L) President of Serbia talks with tennis player Novak Djokovic (R) of Serbia after their meeting \u00a0on February 3, 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia.\u00a0\u00a0(Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Vu\u010di\u0107 said he adopted a similar approach during his own visit, arguing that leaders should prioritize economic opportunities for their citizens rather than ideological alignments. “I’m coming from a small country. I was asking for more investments and was fighting for the interests of my people,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Serbian president said the same pragmatic approach should guide efforts to resolve ongoing conflicts \u00a0in both Ukraine and the Middle East.<\/p>\n

“It’s always better to have thousands of days of negotiations than one day of war,” he said.<\/p>\n

Asked about tensions involving Iran \u00a0and the wider conflict in the Middle East, Vu\u010di\u0107 reiterated Serbia’s support for Israel, a position that increasingly distinguishes Belgrade from some European governments.<\/p>\n

“I am the president of the country that is one of the very rare countries in Europe that is not hesitating to cooperate and collaborate with Israel,” he said. “And it is proud to say this publicly and openly.”<\/p>\n

Vu\u010di\u0107 warned about what he described asrising antisemitism \u00a0around the world.<\/p>\n

“From time to time, I’m very much afraid to see a lot of antisemitic slogans and antisemitic banners,” he said.<\/p>\n

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Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) meet at the Presidential residence ahead of the World Holocaust Forum on January 22, 2020 in Jerusalem.\u00a0(PhKobi Gideon \/ GPO \/ Handout\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“The Serbian president said Serbia has resisted those trends and pledged that it would continue to do so under his leadership.”<\/p>\n

“It does not happen in Serbia, and it won’t happen as long as I’m the president.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 says relations between Serbia and the United States have undergone a dramatic transformation under President Donald Trump,\u00a0a shift he says has changed public perceptions in a … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4702"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4704,"href":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4702\/revisions\/4704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storylifedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}