Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, April 17, to discuss a variety of topics, including tariffs. In what her aids have called a “commercial peace mission,” there was a lot of pressure on Meloni to make a bridge between the Trump administration and the European Union.
Meloni and Trump Have a Positive Meeting
Two days before coming to America, Meloni spoke at an awards ceremony in Rome, saying, “We know we’re going through a difficult period, let’s see how it goes in the coming hours. I am feeling no pressure, as you can imagine, for my next two days.” She added, “I am aware of what I represent, and I am aware of what I am defending.”
By all accounts, the meeting between the two leaders went well, despite concern from those who politically oppose the PM. They discussed everything from defense spending to immigration and, of course, tariffs. As a nationalist conservative, the Italian PM shares a lot of the same policy beliefs as Trump, especially on immigration and LGBTQ+ rights. The president has praised Meloni for her tough stance on immigration, adding that he wished more people were like her.
Defense spending has been a big thorn in Trump’s paw because eight countries, including Italy, have not met the 2% threshold per NATO guidelines. The president has said the EU was “formed to screw the United States,” and since some countries were not putting in as much as the US, he installed a 20% tariff, which is now on hold until July. Meloni told reporters she expects Italy, at the next NATO meeting, to announce that the country will reach the 2% requirement on defense spending.
Meloni is the first European leader to visit Washington since the hefty tariffs were imposed, but Trump said he expects a trade deal. “Of course there will be a trade deal, very much,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office after the meeting. “They want to make one very much. And we are going to make a trade deal. I fully expect it. And it will be a fair deal.”
The prime minister agreed and said she was “sure” they could reach an agreement, claiming her goal was to “make the West great again.” But all is not set in stone, and Meloni has her work cut out for her.
Mixed Thoughts
Some have called Meloni the “Trump Whisperer,” hoping she will be the bridge between the US and the EU, but others have doubts and are uneasy with Italy’s leader taking the reins and speaking for the European Nation. French Industry Minister Marc Ferracci told a French broadcaster there was a risk that her visit with Trump could break the continent’s unity. Others have suggested Meloni’s meeting would reveal just how loyal she is to Europe.
Although Ms. Meloni has said Trump’s tariffs were “wrong,” she has also encouraged other countries not to retaliate with reciprocal tariffs. “Europe’s industrial supply chains are now intertwined,” said Mr. Urso, her minister for enterprises, as reported by The New York Times. “We certainly do not want to divide Europe.”
“This is the moment of truth for our prime minister,” Italy’s former Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calenda said in a statement. “We will see whether she is a leader that keeps the European front united, or if she will give in to the flattery of the US president.”
The consensus is that, while Italy is powerful by itself, the EU as a whole is much more significant, which puts Meloni in a difficult place to try to broker a “commercial peace mission.” European officials are looking for ways to negotiate with Trump, even considering some economic bonuses, such as cutting tariffs on cars and increasing natural gas purchases.
“Italy will find out how much it can claim a special relationship with the United States,” Giovanni Orsina, head of the political science department at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, told The Times. Meloni’s visit “is an important moment for Italy. And it may be an important one for Europe, too,” he added.
The two leaders had a much different meeting than when Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited, giving hope for future negotiations. “Our relationship is great,” Trump said of him and Meloni. She criticized “woke ideology” and spoke highly of the “war against illegal migration,” adding, “The goal for me is to make the West great again, and I think we can do it together.”
Today, Meloni will meet with Vice President JD Vance in Rome, and President Trump has accepted an invitation to visit Italy sometime in the near future.