Italy

The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, will meet Thursday at the White House with President Trump, in what his assistants have called a “commercial peace mission” of high risk.

European leaders expect Italy right premier It can be positioned as a bridge between the Trump administration and the European Union, which Trump and its main assistants have criticized Like a deadif not, an abusive partner in defense and trade.

Trump told journalists on Thursday that “of course” there will be a trade agreement with the EU, in the middle of the 90 -day pause in its “reciprocal” tariffs. When asked if the EU is on its list of priority nations to reach trade agreements, Trump said: “Everyone is on my priorities list.”

The president said that he and Meloni discussed trade and “many, many things” at their first meeting of the day. But it is not clear how much progress, Trump and Meloni did when discussing any type of commercial agreement.

Hope not only in Rome, but in the EU capitals through the 27 -nations block it is likely that Meloni can persuade Mr. Trump so that he does not impose the steep tariff increases he has threatened, which could devastate European economies. A journalist asked Meloni if ​​he believes that the United States is a reliable partner.

“If I didn’t think he is a reliable partner, he wouldn’t be here,” Meloni replied.

Meloni said he is “here to find the best way to get the two strongest.”

“The goal for me is to make the West great again,” Meloni said. “And I think we can do it together.”

The secretary of the Treasury, Scott Besent, told reporters that he believes that there have already been commercial calls with the EU, and the United States is trying to work first with the 15 largest economies in the world. The president said that “the tariffs are making us rich.”

Meloni and Trump seem to “get along”

Meloni has positioned himself as the European leader, Mr. Trump is more likely to listen. The two have developed a relationship based on shared political and ideological affinities on issues that include immigration and LGBTQ rights.

Meloni was the only European leader to be invited to Trump’s inauguration in January, and he has He praised her Several times, calling her a “fantastic leader and person”, and someone with whom he could work to “straighten the world a bit.”

After the Reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral In Paris last year, which both leaders attended, Mr. Trump was summoned by the New York Post saying: “I was a lot with her” and “we got along very well.”

But the Italian leader will have to try to balance that special relationship with his mandate to protect the interests not only of the economy of his own nation, but also the EU, with which the Financial Future of Italy is inextricably linked.

Europe has hope and anxiety, about the Trump-Meloni meeting

The president of Meloni and the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, discussed strategies on how to address his meeting with Mr. Trump during multiple telephone calls before the trip, according to a commission spokesman.

Von der Leyen has not yet been awarded a meeting with Mr. Trump, despite repeated applications. Meloni’s sitting at the White House will be the first with any European leader since the administration announced its Tariffs on practically all nations with which the United States makes trade in early April. He That he hit with a rate rate of 20% in all exports to the USA. With that announcement, although Mr. Trump put those higher rates waiting For 90 days approximately a week later, as the global values ​​markets staggered, leaving a universal rate of 10%.

Meloni has gently rebuked radical tariffs in the EU as “incorrect”, but it has been one of the voices that urges the continental block not to impose retaliation measures, insisting that a quiet response focused on negotiations would bring a more constructive resolution.

The White House affirms that dozens of counties have presented themselves seeking to negotiate new commercial agreements with the United States, with Trump boasting that the leaders called and “kissed my butt”, begging to achieve agreements to avoid the reimposition of the highest taxes.

“We know that we are going through a difficult period, let’s see how it goes in the next few hours. I don’t feel pressure, as you can imagine, for my next two days,” Meloni said with a clear note of irony at an awards ceremony two days before his White House meeting. “I am aware of what I represent, and I am aware of what I am defending.”

However, not all European politicians were so optimistic about the potential result of the Trump-Meloni meeting. The Italian opposition politician, Carlo Calenda, said: “The most important thing is that Meloni is not allowed to be used by Trump to divide the European Front.”

In other European capitals, there was a clear anxiety for the possibility that the White House could use the meeting to try to undermine the EU unit.

“If we begin to have bilateral discussions, it will obviously break the current dynamics,” the Minister of Industry and Energy of the French Government, Marc Ferracci, added: “Europe is only strong if it is united.”

The French news agency News said a government spokeswoman emphasized that any voice capable of encouraging dialogue between Washington and the EU should be welcome. That statement echoed the comments of the EU spokesman on Monday, who pointed out the close coordination between Meloni and Von der Leyen before the Italian leader’s trip to Washington and said that the “scope is very welcome.”

After his brief visit to Washington, the Italian leader will return home, where he is expected to meet Friday with Vice President JD Vance during his visit to the Italian capital and the Vatican.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer and the Irish prime minister, Micheál Martin, met Mr. Trump in the Oval office since he assumed the position of his second mandate, but all those meetings arrived before the announcement of mass rates on April 2.

In:
• World Trade Organization
• Giorgia Meloni
• Duty
• Italy
• Donald Trump
• European Union