BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The president’s eldest son delivered harsh criticism of the European Union during a Tuesday visit to Bosnia, claiming the bloc’s progressive policies are driving away investors and forecasting a significant rift between eastern and western member nations.
Donald Trump Jr. told attendees at a business forum that top figures in banking, finance, technology and artificial intelligence view Europe as troubled but fixable. “The biggest players, the biggest names in banking and finance, in tech and AI across the board” believe that “Europe is a disaster,” but “the disaster that they feel also needs to be fixed,” he stated.
“The only way it gets fixed, though, in my opinion is if they (Europe) get out of of their own way,” Trump Jr. remarked during the business discussion in the northwestern Bosnian city, according to footage from state broadcaster RTRS.
The visit took place in Banja Luka, the primary city of Republika Srpska, the Serbian-controlled portion of Bosnia whose officials strongly support both President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
U.S. Embassy officials in Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital city, confirmed to The Associated Press via email that Trump Jr. was visiting “in a private capacity.” However, local observers interpreted the trip as an endorsement of Serb separatist political figures.
The visit occurred simultaneously with Vice President JD Vance’s journey to Hungary, where he campaigned for nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ahead of a closely-watched election this weekend.
Milorad Dodik, a Bosnian Serb leader and former Republika Srpska president who maintains ties with Orbán, wrote on X that both visits “signal an important shift of the U.S. administration under the leadership of President Trump and the care for this part of Europe regarding the position of Christians.”
Speaking in Banja Luka, Trump Jr. praised eastern European nations for maintaining “a work ethic that has (withstood) some of the ‘woke’ nonsense that has really been a parasitic thing in the mind in Western Europe.”
“I see that creating major fractures in the European Union between those few countries in eastern Europe that actually still believe in common sense, and Western Europe that’s clearly missing in the political discourse these days,” he added.
Dodik has consistently advocated for the Serbian half of Bosnia to separate from areas governed by Bosniaks, who are predominantly Muslim, and Croats. This Serbian push for independence and potential merger with Serbia was considered the primary trigger of the 1992-95 ethnic conflict that claimed over 100,000 lives before concluding with a U.S.-mediated peace deal.
The Biden administration sanctioned Dodik and related individuals and entities in 2022 due to separatist activities that raised concerns about renewed conflict. These sanctions were removed by the Trump administration last year.
The current administration has maintained longstanding criticism of the EU, particularly regarding trade disputes and EU oversight of technology companies. This criticism of traditional European partners has grown stronger during the Iran war.
Bosnia holds candidate status for EU membership, and the 27-member union describes itself as Bosnia’s largest trading partner, investor and source of financial assistance.
