Donald Trump’s eldest son has criticised the EU as “a little bit of a mess” during a visit to Bosnia’s Republika Srpska widely seen as a gesture of support for the ousted pro-Russian leader Milorad Dodik.
Donald Trump Jr travelled to the Serb-run region’s de facto capital, Banja Luka, as the guest of Dodik’s son Igor. The visit coincided with remarks by JD Vance in Budapest, who accused the EU of meddling in an election in Hungary, even as the US vice-president said he had travelled to Budapest to “help” Viktor Orbán win Sunday’s vote.
“The European Union has been a little bit of a mess,” Trump Jr said during a closed panel discussion with the region’s political leaders and business figures. He added that he had heard from businesspeople around the world who described Europe as “a disaster”.
“But it’s a disaster they feel also needs to be fixed because of the impact that it does have on the values and western civilisation,” said Trump Jr, who is executive vice-president of the Trump Organization, which he runs alongside his younger brother Eric.
The Republika Srpska is one of two autonomous regions that make up Bosnia, alongside the Bosniak-Croat Federation, under the 1995 Dayton peace accords brokered by the US to end the 1992-95 war that killed about 100,000 people and displaced about 2 million.
The panel event was open only to government-aligned media outlets, but video was broadcast on regional television.
Dodik, the region’s former separatist president, was stripped of his mandate last August over a court verdict banning him from politics and had been under US sanctions for flouting the Dayton peace treaty. He has become a strong supporter of the policies of Donald Trump after he took power last year.
“The arrival of Vance in Hungary and Donald Trump Jr in Banja Luka is a signal of an important shift in the US administration under President Trump, showing concern for this part of Europe,” Dodik posted on X.
In October, the US Treasury lifted sanctions imposed on Dodik and his allies and family members without publicly explaining the decision. Serb officials have since said they have been working quietly to improve relations with Washington, while maintaining close ties with traditional ally Russia.