The United States ambassador to Poland, Tom Rose, announced he is cutting off all contact with Wlodzimierz Czarzasty, the speaker of the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament.
Rose said Czarzasty had made “outrageous and unprovoked insults directed against [US President Donald Trump].”
Poland is one of Washington’s closest European allies and, within NATO, one of the countries spending a high share of GDP on defence. Bordering both Russia and Ukraine, Poland has been among the EU’s staunchest backers of Kyiv. Its government has expressed scepticism about Trump’s attempts to negotiate a peace settlement with Moscow.
Czarzasty has accused Trump of “destabilizing” international institutions [FILE: November 22, 2025].
What did Sejm speaker Czarzasty say about Trump?
The ambassador’s move followed remarks by Czarzasty, a member of the centre-left New Left party, that he would not back an effort to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. “I won’t support the application for a Nobel prize for Trump because he does not deserve it,” he said.
Czarzasty criticised what he described as Trump’s reliance on “power politics” and transactional use of force. He also attacked the US-led creation of a new Board of Peace to oversee a Gaza ceasefire, arguing instead that existing organisations—the EU, NATO, the UN and the WHO—should be strengthened.
He further criticised Trump’s talk of the US acquiring Greenland and comments that downplayed Europe’s role in the 2001–2021 Afghanistan campaign. After the ambassador announced the diplomatic break, Czarzasty said he regretted the decision but would not alter his stance on those core issues for Poland.
KO-led government defends Czarzasty
Czarzasty’s New Left is part of the governing coalition headed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk of the centre-right Civic Coalition (KO). Tusk publicly rebuked Ambassador Rose on the platform X, saying allies should respect one another rather than lecture.
The row drew responses in US political circles as well; Republican Representative Don Bacon tweeted that it was “Time for a new Ambassador.” At home, KO lawmaker Zbigniew Konwinski accused Rose of moving from criticising the speaker to issuing threats aimed at the government, calling the conduct an astonishing form of diplomacy.
Trump reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to Poland’s security in a September 2025 Oval Office meeting with nationalist President Karol Nawrocki.
Warsaw caught between Brussels and Washington
Poland is an EU member, and the parties in the current coalition have generally sought closer ties with Brussels. By contrast, President Karol Nawrocki—whose June 2025 election bid received Trump’s endorsement—is closely aligned with the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which advocates a looser relationship with the EU.
The Polish president can veto legislation and serves as commander-in-chief, while the prime minister and cabinet hold other executive powers. During the September Oval Office meeting, Trump told Nawrocki that the US did not plan to pull troops out of Poland and said, “We’ll put more there if you want.”
Edited by: Wesley Dockery