In an exclusive conversation with a news outlet, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic emphasized the significance of President Donald Trump turning his attention to completing the Washington Agreement between Serbia and Kosovo. He remarked that achieving a compromise would be a monumental accomplishment, especially after Trump concludes his current negotiations with Iran.
“Reaching a compromise would indeed be a significant achievement,” Vucic noted during the interview in his office. He expressed optimism about Trump finalizing the previously established agreement, suggesting it would be a notable success for the former U.S. president.
Currently, Trump is focused on resolving tensions with Iran, aiming for a deal that would prevent the nation from acquiring nuclear weapons. Once this matter is settled, Trump may redirect his efforts toward other international goals. The Washington Agreement, signed in his first term by the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo, is a likely candidate for renewed attention. Vucic, who has been Serbia’s president since that time, highlighted Trump’s popularity in Serbia, attributing it to the former president’s “pragmatic” and “rational” approach. In a previous segment of the interview, Vucic extended an invitation for Trump to visit Belgrade, promising a warm reception from a large crowd, a sentiment Trump shared on his Truth Social account.
Kosovo has maintained a positive relationship with Trump, highlighted by their participation in the Board of Peace summit earlier in the year. Interestingly, during Trump’s first term, his administration, led by Richard Grenell, brokered the Washington Agreement. Around that time, Jack Smith, a then-obscure prosecutor at The Hague, indicted and arrested Kosovo’s then-President Hashim Thaci. Smith later became a Special Counsel pursuing Trump under President Joe Biden’s Justice Department. This marked a notable instance of governmental actions intersecting with Trump’s intentions, as Smith initially targeted Thaci amid efforts to resolve the Serbia-Kosovo conflict via the Washington Agreement, negotiated by Grenell. The agreement was officially signed at the White House in September 2020 by Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister at the time, Avdullah Hoti.
President Donald Trump talks to reporters as Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, listens as he visits the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025.
Serbia’s aspirations to join the European Union have stalled, primarily due to the unresolved issue with Kosovo and also because of its relations with Russia. Vucic shared with the news outlet that the EU accession process has practically come to a standstill in Brussels.
“I’ll tell you, there is.. there is nothing happening in last five years speaking about Serbia, because of two issues: one is Kosovo, another one is that we did not impose any sanctions against Russia, and this is the real truth,” Vucic told – News. “In the meantime, I have to say that we were just asking Europeans to keep their word, which means to fulfill their obligations from the Brussels Agreement signed on 19th of April 2013—13 years ago—and regarding that agreement, Kosovo—Pristina—had to form an association of Serb municipalities or Serb community, whatever you call it, that was the only obligation they had, and it was guaranteed by the EU. In the meantime, we fulfilled our obligations, dismantling our police in the north, and whatever else was asked from our side, but they [Kosovo] didn’t make a single step in order to form this association of Serb municipalities, and we wait for this.”
Serbia has maintained a working relationship with Russia and with China—Vucic was traveling to meet President Xi Jinping in Beijing, which came right after Xi hosted both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin—right after his interview with – News last weekend in Belgrade. But he takes umbrage with any notion that the Serbs are on the Russians’ side or something like that—he argues that having open lines of communication leads to the most effective diplomacy.
“We were always saying to them [Brussels] that warring factions should talk to each other,” Vucic said when asked about the European Union’s views of Serbia on that front. “We should talk to everybody now. They come to our position. They were criticizing President Trump when he started talking to Russians. Now they want to replace President Trump, saying ‘No, no, no, we want to talk to Russians instead of you.’ And now it’s okay talking to Russians when we talk to Russians, but when President Trump wanted to talk to them, when he wanted to make whatever cease fire, truce, long-lasting peace well, that was not good? Can you imagine what was the reaction when I was saying the same? But they’re coming to our position, and I’m happy that they want to make conversation with the Russians. You have to speak to people.”
In that same vein, Vucic told – News that his then-upcoming, now-completed visit to China was his ninth as President of Serbia.
“Well, this is my ninth time heading to China, and we have always had very good relationship with the Chinese,” Vucic said when asked about the trip. “I’m a small guy coming from a small country but it’s a coincidence no doubt that it happens—this visit—after big visits of President Trump and President Putin to China. But for us it is important because China is a significant investor to this country and we also discuss all the other issues with them, and are always extending and expanding the field of cooperation and we hope that we’ll be able to attract more of their investors. We were following very closely President Trump’s visit to Beijing, and what I noticed—I saw that President Trump after this visit even in a better way understood the significance of China and I believe also that he was using very good wording and a very smart narrative in order to protect America’s interests—not to flatter the other side, not to say only nice stuff. He was a good guest, praising the hospitality of his hosts and everything else. That’s what decent people do, but he was taking care of his people, America’s interests, and American companies’ interests, which is very important. That’s the job of our president. He was doing it very carefully, and he was very well prepared for that visit. I saw the narrative that he was using. His advisers did a good job, but it was very good for all of us as well because—I cannot say appeasing it—but showing to the world the two biggest powers of today can work together and at least they can find a common denominator on main issues. This is a very important news for all of us and that’s been delivered also because of President Trump and his politics.”
Vucic said that Serbia has always been “at a crossroads” for the world.
“We were defining it in the past as west in the east or east in the west, and a lot of different influences,” he said. “Just a kilometer away from here, or a bit more than kilometer—one mile away from here—is Kalemegdan Fortress. You can overview that beautiful confluence of Sava and Danube [rivers] and beautiful fortress, but just on the other side of the river were Austro-Hungarians, here were Ottomans, and they were fighting each other. Everybody was fighting over Belgrade, even very famous French architect Le Corbusier, 100 years ago, used to say that when he visited Belgrade. Now I see that Belgrade is the best positioned city in Europe, and I do understand why everybody was fighting over it, but I believe that this is the case. But when you ask me, we are freedom-loving people. We love our independence. When Europeans, or European partners, when they say, ‘You’re not fully aligned with our politics,’ I always have at least partly an answer saying, ‘Why we would need our government if we would be 100 percent aligned with you?’ You can email us, you can fax, you can text a message, and that’s it. We believe that we need our government, that we need a government that will take care of our interest in a way that you say America First, America’s interest—we have our interest and we have to take care of our interests and I believe that Belgrade is one of the best city destinations in Europe, believe it’s a booming city. It’s a very vibrant, very good city to be visited regarding its museums, its restaurants, its cafes, and I hope that we’ll be able with the Expo, which is very important event for us in 2027—Specialized Expo—America is taking part in organizing a big pavilion at Expo to show the very best face of Serbia and also to invite more people to come here. But where we fit in, we fit here, that’s my genuine response. I believe that while I was speaking about United States of America, and I’m well known as a person who doesn’t flatter anyone in the world—I believe that I’m not indecent but I’m not flattering anyone—but I really believe that this is a great opportunity for making much better relationship and relationship of trust and confidence between us and United States.”
Kalemegdan Fortress in Belgrade, Serbia. (Getty Images)
While Chinese investment in Serbia is definitely big and continuing to grow—as are Russian investments—it’s the Americans who are eventually going to be outpacing everyone combined. Vucic told – News there “is a huge opportunity” on the horizon and detailed several major American-led projects that are coming into Serbia soon. Outside of these major powers too, Serbian officials showed – News several developments in Belgrade funded by the Israelis and others by investors from the United Arab Emirates.
“I believe that there is a huge opportunity in the future, and speaking about Chinese and American investments today—because they invested into millions—they’re a bit bigger, but speaking about something on the horizon, speaking about what we have started actually to discuss, it’s big,” Vucic said. “It’s very big with United States, and I’ll just mention several projects.”
Then Vucic began to list many major projects in the works with American backing in Serbia.
“The main motorway highway corridor in Serbia has been built, and it’s going to be finished, the last sections, in two or three months—they were actually built by an American company,” Vucic told – News. “They’re going to get more very big businesses here immediately after they finish their sections, but American companies together with us will invest into one of the biggest projects regarding the energy sector, and there are a lot of it, but I need to mention one, we call it Iron Gate. It’s an Iron Gate on the Danube close to the Romanian border. It’s about constructing a hydropower plant… American companies will work with us on that, and there are solar panel companies that will construct big solar panel fields at the same time. What we are discussing now, and this is big—this is like aiming high and this is a big dream—the idea is the following: It’s about Americans securing the Port of Bar and the possibility of them to bring big ships with LNG to the Port of Bar to Montenegro and then constructing or renewing and reviving a railway between that port in Montenegro and Belgrade. We’ll have to invest hugely into that, apart from that gas pipeline from Bar to Belgrade, and oil pipeline. Why I’m saying this is because bringing up to Serbia LNG quantities means also—and that’s what we discussed now with our American partners—constructing a lot of mainly private but also state-owned data centers on from Montenegrin border to Kragujevac, which is in the very heart of Serbia, and of course using LNG for cooling those data centers and saving at least up to 30 percent of energy. These are huge projects. It’s more than speaking only about Serbia. It’s more than, let me say, approximately $10 to $12 billion, and all together if you count it it’s around $20 billion, which is big, big, big.”
In a country of around 7 million people, an investment from the United States of this magnitude is astounding. Vucic told – News that the Serbian government has “already commenced discussion with the Ex-Im Bank and DFC,” two major U.S. government entities formally titled the Export-Import Bank and the Development Finance Corporation which help lead such overseas efforts to project American interests worldwide. He said Serbia’s economy is very strong, but the U.S. economy is blowing away expectations—and because of that he’s seen massive interest from American investors in Euro bonds recently.
“ Many of them are very ready to invest into Serbia, and I need to tell you one more thing, which shows bigger American interest in Serbia,” Vucic told – News. “We were issuing Euro bonds very recently, and you know, 90 percent of financial investors came from United States of America. We were asking, let’s say, for overall and everything else, but what was happening? … Ninety percent of those financial investors were coming from the United States of America, and we see that doesn’t matter what people might say about it’s always important, but put that aside—now we should discuss about the real results even in the United States of America. Here in Serbia, we are one of the best countries speaking about the growth rate in the first quarter of this year, maybe even number one in Europe but with 3.0 or 3.1 percent growth rate, but the United States is doing very well economically, and when President Trump will be able to finish this crisis in the Strait of Hormuz or around Iran and everything else—when that will be over, then the prices of oil will go down, and everything else. But the economy of the United States is doing well, is doing much better than expected.”
Vucic recalled a conversation he had with Bulgarian economist Kristalina Georgieva, the former Vice President of the European Commission, who he said agreed with him about how Trump has seriously strengthened the American economy.
“Even I discussed it with Kristalina Georgieva—she was saying the American economy is better prepared for everything, you have better buffers, and it’s because President Trump was taking care of America’s interests,” Vucic said. “Now I know that people can easily criticize. Everybody, it’s in our genes, but you have to admit that someone accomplished good results if he does it, and he does it. And why I’m saying this, because we see even from this very small country, although the biggest in the Western Balkans, we see from that country that America still has the biggest financial potential, that you have a good and fast-growing economy, that President Trump as he promised that he really takes care of America’s interests… These is good news, and we see bigger American interests in our economy which is great news and that’s why we are preparing all these plans and we believe that we can come up with all these plans within a month and a half or two months and then to see President Trump and to show to him what are our plans and how good that is for the American economy and how good that is for the Serbian economy.”
Serbia, which is in the heart of the Balkans, fits into the broader American vision—shared with the Greeks—for a vertical corridor to take American natural gas up from Greece into Eastern Europe. Asked about Serbia’s role in the vertical corridor vision, Vucic said that energy has become a “predominant issue” for Trump quite clearly and Serbia is pleased to play a role in helping execute this vision.
“I’ll tell you very openly—we discussed, because the energy issue became a sort of predominant issue for President Trump’s administration and for himself as well and they want to secure—you always need to analyze and scrutinize the other countries’ interests at the same time you do it with your country’s interests,” Vucic said. “America’s interest, no doubt, is the following: We have to be dominant in at least regions where we believe that we should be dominant with supplying our partners and our friends different types of energy resources, with our oil, with our gas, with everything we have. And for the first time now, during Trump’s tenure, America became a net exporter of oil which has never been the case in the past. You were self-sufficient always, but for the first time you’re becoming one of the biggest net exporters, and what energy is of an utmost importance for us, because we’ll have to understand the future—electric cars, data centers, super computers, AI—everything actually has a common denominator, which is the energy, which is the power, and in order to secure it, we are very ready to invest hugely, very ready to invest hugely. We are very ready to discuss all these issues with our American partners and we have already started doing so, and now it’s almost the end of all these procedures about selling oil industry of Serbia to some other partners, because OFAC [the Office of Foreign Assets Control] was sanctioning Russian companies. Now they’re selling it to Hungarian MOL. Hopefully, that will be ended very soon, and then I believe that it will be a big discussion whether we’re going to make long-term contract and attempt to buy American oil and then to carry on with some other issues regarding energy resources. not including only oil and LNG but also renewables and nuclear and everything else.”
With this pouring of American investment into Serbia, and possibly some other major geopolitical opportunities moving forward, the hope here in Belgrade per Vucic is that things may get back on track for the first time since September 2020 with regard to Kosovo. Vucic recounted to – News just how hard Trump and his team were working back then in Trump’s first term when he visited Washington to sign the original Washington Agreement.
– Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle, left, interviews President Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia on May 23, 2026, in Belgrade, Serbia. (Jon Kahn/ – News)
“People were saying to me, now they [Trump and the White House] don’t care,” Vucic said. “I said, ‘Well, I cannot say this because I saw very diligent people.’ It was my visit to Washington, and we were … it was preparations for signing the so-called Washington Agreement with Pristina and United States of America trilateral, but then we were all alone with the American delegation. We went to President Trump’s office, and he discussed the issues with us, but then it was, although it was Friday late afternoon, let’s say 7 o’clock p.m., his people from Ric Grenell, then the NSC head O’Brien, then Jared Kushner, then all the others from top-notch officials of that time and Trump’s closest surroundings were listening to us for two hours. It was in White House that it looked like a submarine room, or navy room, something like that. But they were listening to us, small guys from a small country, for two hours—really listening to us, all our issues; I don’t say that they agreed fully with us on everything, but they listened to us. They didn’t need to do it, but they were doing so, and I saw that we were having something in common with the people that were showing respect and appreciation for this small country, and those people were dedicated there, to say, devoted to their work, to their job. This is what I believe it would be good for American people to know. These are not people that are just acting in front of the cameras—these are people that are working hard, taking care of many issues all over the world, which is not easy.”
The predominant reason why Serbia-U.S. relations soured in the aftermath of the Cold War and breakup of the Soviet Union is because of the actions of Democrats in the United States. When he was battling sexual misconduct allegations in the late 1990s, then-President Bill Clinton attempted to shift the world’s attention to Belgrade by leading a NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.
“We Serbs wanted to preserve former Yugoslavia because we invested a lot of blood in forming both Yugoslavias—we were on the good side of history, together with Americans, together with all the others at that time against Nazis [in World War II] and before that against Austrians and Germans in the First World War,” Vucic said. “We picked the first fight. We lost 29 percent of our overall population. Then France, 11 percent, but we were by far the biggest victims of the First World War, and in the Second World War Germans allowed Croats to form that independent state of Croatia, which was a Nazi puppet, and they killed hundreds of thousands of Serbs and we suffered a lot. Then we formed once again Yugoslavia, and we wanted to keep it alive. At the beginning, James Baker was supportive. Then America shifted to the other side, and then Clinton even made a decision together with all the others—after big scandals in the White House—to overlap that with and to cover it with this big issue, and then they started bombing.They started bombing Serbia in order to take 14 percent of our territory from us, and it was done not in accordance with the UN Charter, and was against UN resolutions, against everything, and they didn’t care. That was the time when Pandora’s box was opened. Today when they criticize Russians, speaking about the first attack in Europe and first violation of UN Charter—no, Clinton and Europe did the first violation of UN Charter, attacking Serbia, even without compliance, without permission of the Security Council of the United Nations, and people here suffered for 78 days. We were resisting for 78 days to 19 big NATO countries, and then they separated Montenegro from Serbia, from Yugoslavia, and then finally they separated Kosovo, and it’s then you ask me, ‘Okay, what are your feelings, and why are you on today on Trump’s side, not on Clinton’s side or Democrat side?’ I believe it’s very easy for everybody to understand why we are belonging to that camp, and I didn’t want to use emotions to tell you how this was happening and how we couldn’t believe that at the end of 20th century someone was able to do this action against Serbs and Serbia and Belgrade was bombed once again, and that’s why people say that there is no other city in Europe that was bombed that many times as Belgrade. But we were always like a phoenix rising from the ash.”
Later, finally, when Trump came in his first term, there was hope again in Serbia for repairing the damaged relationship caused by the Democrats. Sure enough, led by Grenell, who was U.S. Ambassador to Germany and also the special envoy negotiating between Serbia and Kosovo, that process began and culminated in September with the signing of the Washington Agreement between all the parties. Vucic spoke highly of Grenell.
“He was able to speak to us on a daily basis,” Vucic told – News of Grenell.
What Trump did to lead to that original breakthrough was to focus on economic ties between Serbia and Kosovo, Vucic said.
“I believe that what we actually appreciated at that time was that President Trump insisted on the economy,” Vucic said. “Ric Grenell was conveying that message. … He picked the very best solution for bringing people together and calming down the situation, making the region stable and tranquil, which was the economy. ‘You need to deal with each other, all of you, particularly you Albanians and Serbs. You need to deal with each other.’ Open the flights, open the railroads, construct motorways, highways, whatever, free trade, free flow of goods, capital, services, people, and everything else, but then after that actually and to the contrary, everything went differently.”
During Biden’s tenure things mostly stalled out. But now, with Trump’s return to the White House, there is hope for a prosperous future here, however difficult it might be from here on forward.
“I believe that of course there have been some changes [to the circumstances from before],” Vucic said. “It has to be introspect in real terms of that word and scrutinized by good people in Washington. But what I’m asking for, is it cannot be the case that one side gets everything and that the other side gets nothing, and I believe that President Trump can understand that message. They showed even in Bosnia that they didn’t want to go against Serbs and they showed a different approach and I’m profoundly grateful to them. We will always be very open for discussing all the issues, very open in attempting to find a deal, but it is not going to be easy.”
