The USA president had personally called Infantino to request a review of the red card shown to the USMNT striker, an intervention that triggered accusations of political interference in the tournament.
Balogun, 25, was sent off during the USA's 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, initially ruling him out of the last-16 match against Belgium under FIFA's automatic suspension rules. US Soccer officials and the White House pushed back against the punishment, and the one-match ban was subsequently suspended, allowing Balogun to feature against Belgium. The USA went on to lose that match 4-1, crashing out of the tournament, with Balogun later admitting the episode had unsettled his teammates in the build-up.
Speaking on Friday, Trump defended the decision and dismissed the criticism directed at Infantino.
"You made another great decision. It was so much better the way it worked out because there's no controversy: they won the game and our team had all of its players," he said, referring to Belgium's win. He went on to argue that the alternative scenario would have drawn even greater criticism:
"You'll never get credit for it. Think if he didn't allow him to play and they lost. They'd say: 'We would have the won the game if we had our best player!'"
Trump described the Balogun red card as "probably the most unforgettable" moment of the tournament and said he had "no idea" whether his intervention would have any effect when he made the call. He offered a light-hearted account of the conversation.
"They gave that gentleman, is it a red card? And I was forced to call Gianni and just make a recommendation," he said, before adding: "I said: 'I'd like to wage a complaint' and actually I had no idea what was going to happen."
Infantino, who faced criticism over accusations he had bowed to pressure from the White House, has maintained that the decision to suspend Balogun's ban was made by "independent" bodies acting "autonomously."
Balogun himself addressed the saga's impact on the squad in an appearance on CBS Mornings earlier in the week, saying the closer the team got to the Belgium match, "there was a lot of outside noise and that's hard to avoid," and describing his role as "almost just playing a supporting role to keep morale high" given the unusual circumstances surrounding his reinstatement.