(Bloomberg) -- Polish President Andrzej Duda is hoping to boost his re-election bid by meeting Donald Trump in Washington D.C. next week, just four days before the east European nation holds elections.

The U.S. President will meet Duda on June 24 to discuss defense, trade, energy and telecommunications, the White House said on Monday. Duda’s visit comes as transatlantic ties have been strained by Trump’s announcement that he would withdraw some troops from Germany.

An advocate of increasing the U.S. military presence in NATO-ally Poland, Duda has long played up what he calls a “special relationship” with Trump. If Duda manages to gain additional security guarantees, it would be a welcome change his re-election campaign, which has faltered in past weeks amid sleaze scandals and his attacks on the LGBT community.

“President Duda’s visit will be the the first by a head of state to the White House since the pandemic began,” his campaign spokesman Adam Bielan said. “Polish-U.S. relations are stronger than ever.”

Over the past five years, Duda and his nationalist allies steering the government have waged repeated battles with the European Union, which has repeatedly sued the country for eroding democratic standards.

The EU row makes relations with the U.S. even more important, especially as the formerly communist nation overwhelmingly sees American troops as the best deterrent against historic foe Russia.

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