Donald Trump, upon returning to the White House, did not make any negative comments towards Romania. He did not take any particular stance, as happened with Canada, Denmark, the United Kingdom, or Ukraine.
He made no reference to the canceled electoral process last November and did not take sides in the presidential elections in May.
That does not mean that Romania has not been targeted by the new American administration.
"In Washington, there's a new sheriff in town. And under Donald Trump's leadership, we may not agree with your opinions, but we will fight to defend your right to express them in the public space, with or without agreement. We have reached, of course, the point where the situation has become so serious that, in December of this year, Romania annulled the results of the presidential elections based on flimsy suspicions from an intelligence service and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors," stated U.S. Vice President JD Vance in his famous speech in February, held at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
It was the harshest attack on Romania by the American administration since the launch, in 1997, of the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Vance and Musk Unfairly Attacked Romania
Furthermore, Vance's criticisms were unfair and unreal. There was never any mention of flimsy suspicions, and the controversial annulment of the electoral process was made following a unanimous decision by the nine CCR judges.
"From what I understand, the argument was that Russian disinformation affected the outcome of the elections in Romania, but I would ask my European friends to put things into perspective. You may think it's bad for Russia to buy ads on social media to influence your elections. We certainly believe that. You can condemn this even on the global stage. But if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars in digital advertising, from a foreign country, then from the beginning it was not a very strong democracy," Vance further stated in his shocking speech.
The viewpoint of the U.S. Vice President was supported and promoted by Elon Musk, the American billionaire, on his social network for several weeks, with Romania being a favored target of MAGA activists, but there was no sign from Donald Trump.
First Steps
The American leader built a wall around himself, being immune to all formal and informal attempts coming from Bucharest.
A series of political figures in Romania overnight became fervent supporters of the American president, hoping that his blessing would pave their way to the Cotroceni Palace.
Victor Ponta, Crin Antonescu, Călin Georgescu, and especially George Simion promoted themselves as big fans of the American president, trying to persuade him, but they did not succeed.
Trump's silence on Romania lasted until May 21, when on the social network he controls, Truth Social, he posted a message announcing the name of the new American ambassador to Bucharest, Darryl Nirenberg.
A day earlier, on the Facebook page of the U.S. Embassy in Romania, a brief message appeared acknowledging the election results.
"We look forward to working with Nicușor Dan, as President of Romania, and the new government, to promote our common priorities, such as defense, energy, and trade partnerships," the U.S. Embassy statement read.
These two messages represented the first steps taken by Trump in rebuilding the ties between the U.S. and Romania, which had been so tense in recent months.
A Successful Crisis Plan
What stands out about the new American ambassador Darryl Nirenberg, a lawyer specializing in stakeholder relations with the U.S. Senate, is that he has expertise and comes from an area where the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Romania was conceived and implemented, the upper chamber of the American parliament.
Immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the summer of 1991, Romania, just emerging from communism, previously in Moscow's sphere of influence, found itself without any security guarantees in a rapidly changing world.
The specter of a civil war like the one that led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia was real and threatening.
The ethnic clashes in March 1990 in Târgu Mureș were seen by Ion Iliescu and the neo-communist elite in power after Ceaușescu's regime as a threat to territorial integrity and political leadership.
One of the solutions found at that time was to initiate exploratory contacts in the U.S. to reconsolidate special relations with Washington, affected by the increasingly brutal dictatorship of the Ceaușescu family in the 1980s.
At that time, Romania's envoys turned to Republican American senators, known for their uncompromising stance against Russia, and the most open to proposals to restore privileged relations with our country, confirmed in 1969 by Richard Nixon's visit, a president from the ranks of the Republican Party, to Bucharest.
That historic visit was a reward from the U.S. to Nicolae Ceaușescu for refusing to participate in the invasion of Czechoslovakia alongside the USSR and other states from the Warsaw Pact to suppress the anti-communist protests in Prague in 1968.
The initiative was successful, and since then, relations between the U.S. and Romania have continuously developed, with America's fundamental interest being linked to our country's geostrategic position, and Bucharest's interest being tied to obtaining solid security guarantees in the tense regional context generated by the collapse of the USSR.
A Successful Move by American Senators
Every party or political alliance that has come to power in Romania has religiously followed the line of strengthening relations with the U.S., being one of the few successful diplomatic strategies consistently applied by all leaders over the past three decades.
With the attack on Ukraine by Russia, Romania's geostrategic position became even more important, and the Biden administration made every effort to develop the relationship with Romania. The support provided to Ukraine was vital for both Kiev and the stability of the entire Europe.
Unfortunately, the political conflict in the U.S. and Trump's hostility towards the former Democratic administration generated much suspicion from the new president upon his return to the White House. Somehow, Romania was a collateral victim of the political competition in the U.S.
It took Donald Trump five months to be convinced that Bucharest was not hostile to him, and Romania represented a fortified citadel that generates stability across the continent and serves the strategic interests of America perfectly, both in terms of limiting instability in Russia's area and gaining quick access to the Middle East, another turbulent region of the planet.
The fact that Darryl Nirenberg, the new American ambassador to Bucharest, comes from the U.S. Senate area is a confirmation that Republican lawmakers succeeded in transferring to Trump the history and importance of the strategic partnership, built over decades, and convincingly presenting to him the political and economic advantages of it.
Nirenberg is a person from the trusted circle of the U.S. President who has had access to all the subtle layers and interactions within this alliance that American senators value and have defended for decades.
God Bless... Romania and the U.S.!
"I was honored to speak with the U.S. President and thank him for the warm congratulations and strong leadership. The United States is Romania's closest ally and vital strategic partner. I reaffirmed my firm commitment to deepening the strategic partnership in all common priorities.
I look forward to close cooperation with President Trump and his administration. God bless the enduring friendship between Romania and the United States!", announced Nicușor Dan in a post on the X-Twitter network, confirming that Donald Trump called to congratulate him on his election victory.
The relaunch of the strategic partnership between Romania and the USA, after fading into the background for a few months, was confirmed by the fact that the new president of Romania was invited by Donald Trump to make an official visit to the USA.
The fact that in these 5 months the American president had time to understand that Vladimir Putin has no intention whatsoever to stop the war in Ukraine is another twist of events that will turn into an advantage for the countries in Eastern Europe, especially Romania and Poland, in their relationship with America.