Donald Trump has nominated New York-based businessman Benjamin Landa to be the next US ambassador to Hungary according to data published on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee's website.

Landa's nomination must still be approved by the Senate, with the confirmation process expected to begin later in October.

The news was also confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) by Bryan Leib, foreign policy analyst and researcher at the government-funded Centre for Fundamental Rights, who had earlier been considered among the potential candidates for the post.

Landa is the son of parents who emigrated from Czechoslovakia after WWII, where his father had served as a rabbi. In a 2010 speech, he described his family as having Hungarian Hasidic roots. His grandparents perished in the Holocaust, and he has often spoken about never having had the chance to know them, Hvg.hu writes.

The New York-based Orthodox Jewish businessman built his wealth in elderly care as founder of the SentosaCare nursing home network. He is known as a supporter of Roger Stone, a former adviser to Donald Trump, and has been active in various philanthropic initiatives, including those of the Chabad movement

Landa had faced legal scrutiny in the operation of his nursing home network. According to court documents, he sued The American Prospect, a political and public policy magazine, for defamation after the outlet linked him to human trafficking, Medicaid fraud and elder care abuses, a case the court later dismissed.

Reports suggest Landa personally lobbied for the Budapest post and has gained influence through his support for Republican campaigns and his standing in the Jewish community.

In recent months, Robert Palladino has been acting as chargé d'affaires at the US Embassy in Budapest after the resignation of David Pressman following the return of Donald Trump to the White House.

In his first public appearance in April, the diplomat stressed the importance of energy diversification and energy security, and thinly veiled suggestions that Budapest should reconsider its commitment to Russia's Rosatom in building the Paks II nuclear plant and increase its LNG purchase from the US

Palladino described the coming period in Hungarian-US relations as a potential "golden age," given the shared values and mutual economic and security interests. Budapest and Washington are to open a new chapter in bilateral ties "free from activism", he said, referring to open criticism by the Biden administration of the country's democratic backsliding.

Just three weeks before the inauguration of Donald Trump, the State Department blacklisted Antal Rogan, one of the most powerful ministers of the Orban government under the Global Magnitsky programme.

At the time, then-ambassador David Pressman accused Rogan of enriching himself and political allies through misuse of public office, calling him "a primary architect, implementer and beneficiary" of Hungary's entrenched graft network.

In a symbolic gesture, Washington removed Rogan from the sanctions list in April and last month Hungary's full status in the US Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) was reinstated.

The Hungarian government announced a number of new investments and plans were unveiled to build a new nuclear plant with US small modular nuclear technology. In August, the Economy Ministry announced that American Airlines will resume daily direct flights between Budapest and Philadelphia starting May 2026 after an eight-year hiatus.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has also struck an optimistic note on the improving economic ties and the possibility of increasing US FDI to Hungary. He said several times that Hungary and the US were working on a broader trade arrangement to offset the impact of the tariffs. In an interview on October 6 with economic portal Economx.hu, Orban noted that so far this year Hungary attracted HUF150bn of US investments.