Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has publicly rejected President Karol Nawrocki’s proposal to name a planned new permanent US military base in Poland “Fort Trump”, arguing that the title would display excessive deference towards the American president and could prove politically risky.
Speaking to journalists in New York during the UN General Assembly, Sikorski stressed that his objection was to the proposed name — not to the establishment of the base itself.
“The government and the president are working together” towards establishing another permanent American base in Poland, Sikorski said, before criticising the proposed Fort Trump name as a display of “uniżoność” — meaning subservience or excessive deference.
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He added that naming the facility after the sitting US president would, in his view, “not build respect” and could expose the project to unnecessary political complications in the United States.
Sikorski warns about Congress
Sikorski’s concern was not solely symbolic.
He noted that a permanent base would take several years to become operational and would require funding approved by the US Congress.
Control of Congress could change following US elections, he argued, making it potentially unwise to attach a strategically important military installation so closely to one political figure.
Rather than Donald Trump, Sikorski suggested that the base could be named after figures with broader historical resonance in Polish-American relations.
He mentioned Tadeusz Kościuszko and Kazimierz Pułaski, both Polish military figures who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
If the government wanted an explicitly political patron, Sikorski said he would prefer former US President Ronald Reagan.
Nawrocki wants ‘Fort Trump’
Sikorski was responding to comments made by Nawrocki in an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York.
The Polish president said he believed creation of the base was now “only a question of time” and spoke explicitly about Trump being able to attend the inauguration of “Fort Trump” once preparations were completed.
Nawrocki said US consultants had already visited Poland and that infrastructure was being considered, although administrative and financial issues remained unresolved.
He said he hoped the project could be completed before Trump leaves office in 2029.
The “Fort Trump” label revives an idea first promoted during Trump’s first presidency by Nawrocki’s predecessor Andrzej Duda, who used the phrase while lobbying Washington for a larger permanent American military deployment in Poland.
No formal agreement has been announced making “Fort Trump” the official name of any future installation.
Base itself has cross-government support
Despite the disagreement over the name, there is broad institutional agreement between the Polish presidency and government over the objective of expanding the permanent American military presence.
In June, Poland’s Council of Ministers formally authorised the defence minister to begin preparations for establishing a permanent US military base.
The resolution covers consultations with Washington as well as possible locations, infrastructure requirements, costs and sources of financing.
Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz subsequently said the US had responded positively to Poland’s proposal, while making clear that detailed negotiations would continue.
Those talks moved forward this month when a US delegation led by Pentagon official William Cappelletti met Polish defence officials.
The sides agreed on a timetable and structure for further consultations and on creating working groups to negotiate more detailed arrangements.
The American delegation also visited Powidz and Poznań to examine existing infrastructure, accommodation and Polish host-nation support.
Neither location has been formally selected as the site of the proposed new base.
Trump says ‘major progress’ has been made
Trump himself said on 17 September that “major progress” was being made towards establishing a US Army base in Poland and that its location could be announced soon if the project went ahead.
He described the proposal as a significant step for the Polish-American alliance.
Nawrocki and Trump also spoke directly during the Polish president’s visit to New York.
According to officials from the Polish presidency, the permanent US military presence was among the subjects discussed.
No White House or Pentagon readout has announced a final agreement arising from that conversation.
US forces already permanently stationed in Poland
Discussion of a new “permanent base” does not mean Poland currently hosts only temporary US forces.
The United States permanently forward-stationed the V Corps Headquarters Forward Command Post, an Army garrison headquarters and a field support battalion in Poland in 2022.
The Pentagon described them at the time as the first permanent US forces deployed on NATO’s eastern flank.
Poland also hosts substantial rotational American forces and permanent military infrastructure, including the US-operated Aegis Ashore missile-defence facility at Redzikowo.
The current Polish-US negotiations therefore concern a further expansion of permanent American basing rather than the creation of the first permanent US military presence in the country.
The Defence Ministry says negotiations are being conducted under the Polish-American Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement signed in 2020.
For now, the disagreement between Nawrocki and Sikorski concerns what that future facility should symbolise and what it should be called — not whether Poland should seek it.
