President Nicusor Dan declared on Tuesday that „the United States’ decision to suspend Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver program had much less to do with the political situation in our country than with American domestic policy related to migration.”

„The United States’ decision to suspend Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver had much less to do with the political situation in Romania than with American domestic policy related to migration. Because migration is a phenomenon that greatly concerns American society and suspending a visa exemption program for citizens of a country was a domestic policy message that the United States gave. In the meantime, we have had very consistent discussions and we have committed ourselves, which is absolutely normal, to repatriate Romanians who are found without legal documents on the territory of the American state and it is a request for return that the Romanian state has made, that the American authorities have and that they will decide on at some point,” stated Nicusor Dan, to Euronews Romania, when asked on this topic.

He said that he assured the American side that Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver would not have a migratory effect for the United States.

„What we can say at this moment is that, from a technical point of view, regarding this concern of the United States and American society that a Visa Waiver program will expand the migration phenomenon, we assured the American side and we also acted when it was necessary to repatriate, we ensured that it would not have a migratory effect for the United States,” emphasized Nicusor Dan.

The head of state also stated, regarding the steps regarding his meeting with President Donald Trump, that this meeting „will most likely be in the first quarter of 2026.”

„What do I want from this visit? I want it to be consistent on the two most important components at this moment – security and economy. On security, things are in continuity, that is, there are orders for military equipment that are in progress, from Romania to the United States, there is an American military presence in Romania, several thousand soldiers, so here is a continuity that we want to follow its natural course. On the economic side, we very much want American investments in Romania, we have the potential that we talked about, gas in the Black Sea, an above-average competence in the IT – technology area, and for this visit to be fruitful from an economic point of view, it must be preceded by some visits at a technical level, so that when it is a presidential visit, some economic agreements are concluded,” explained the president.

He mentioned, referring to the recent report of the US State Department, that there is „a very good knowledge that the American state has of Romania and other European countries”.

„Under these conditions, at this level of justice, at this level of economic development, their information is correct, but Romania is a state that is close to joining the OECD, has an economy that has doubled its GDP, so we must look neither pessimistically nor optimistically, we must look realistically at our situation and it is to our mutual advantage that economic ties between the United States and Romania develop, and that is what we will do,” the head of state added.

Asked what business opportunities he would propose to President Trump, Nicusor Dan replied: „On the one hand, at our internal level, precisely because we do not have a well-defined economic strategy, they are, let’s say, we are at 50% with what we would go to a discussion with the United States, but we will be at 100% on January 1st.”

„Broadly speaking, as I said, there is an opportunity in energy, gas from the Black Sea. We are entering a competition in artificial intelligence, and in artificial intelligence, accessible electricity and technical competence are important, things that Romania has. So cooperating in the area of artificial intelligence is a very serious option. Probably, in a few years from now, there will be a concern in the area of military equipment. These are the big areas in which we have common interests. We can also look at mineral resources and here it is a very nuanced discussion, in these areas,” Nicusor Dan also said.AGERPRES