Trump, Polish President Duda plan joint appearance in Pennsylvania, sources say

By Gram Slattery and Karol Badohal

WASHINGTON/WARSAW (Reuters) -U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is planning to appear with Polish President Andrzej Duda in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Sunday, according to two sources close to Trump and familiar with the plan.

The joint appearance is not yet finalized, said one of the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss the plans. But if the appearance goes forward, it would mark a rare instance of a foreign leader appearing alongside a U.S. presidential candidate on the campaign trail.

A who's who of world leaders is expected to arrive in the United States in the coming days for the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.

Many foreign delegations have already reached out to allies of the former president in an attempt to connect with Trump or his foreign policy advisers, according to several people familiar with those conversations.

A Polish official said Duda, a nationalist who forged close ties with Trump when he was U.S. president in 2017-21, will attend the unveiling of a monument at a Polish-American Roman Catholic shrine north of Philadelphia.

That official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said if Trump did attend the unveiling, "there will definitely be an opportunity to exchange a few words and talk about the most important topics."

These topics would include Poland's security and the war in Ukraine, the official said.

An aide to Duda, Malgorzata Paprocka, said organizers had invited both Duda and Trump to the same event, though Trump's attendance was not yet certain.

Neither the Trump campaign nor the event organizers responded to requests for comment. The potential joint appearance was first reported by LevittownNow.com, a local news site in Pennsylvania.

Americans of Eastern European descent have become a sought-after voting bloc for both Trump, a Republican, and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

During a debate in Philadelphia earlier in September, Harris referred to Pennsylvania's significant Polish-American population, while implying that Trump would not be a strong defender of Poland if it were attacked by Russia.

The Trump campaign has rejected that characterization and said only Trump can effectively negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

Duda is a Ukraine ally and has long urged Washington to take a tough stance toward Russia, unlike Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, another right-wing European leader who has fostered good relations with Trump.

Duda's stance contrasts with that of Trump, who has at various points characterized U.S. aid to Ukraine as a waste of money and has declined to say he wants Ukraine to win.

Trump has met with various foreign leaders over the last few months, though mainly at his residences in New York and Florida.

Trump and Duda, whose term in office expires next year, have described themselves as friends. The two men last met in New York in April.  

(Additional reporting by Barbara Erling in Warsaw editing by Ross Colvin, Edwina Gibbs, Gareth Jones and Jonathan Oatis)