Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni discussed the chances of a trade agreement between the United States and Europe, while the Italian Prime Minister went to Washington.
“There will be a 100%trade agreement,” said Trump, “but it will be a fair agreement”, while Meloni said that she was “sure” that they could reach an agreement, adding later that his goal was to “make the West again big”.
Meloni is the first European leader to visit Washington since Trump imposed, then pauses, 20% of prices on imports of the block.
The American president said separately on Thursday that it was confident to make “a very good deal” with China, adding that the representatives of Beijing contacted “several times”.
Trump and Meloni enjoy a good relationship and the Italian chief hopes to position himself as a bridge between the EU and the United States in the midst of fractured relationships and increasing concerns concerning the global impact of Trump prices.
Despite his confidence in a possible agreement, Trump said he was “without haste”.
“Everyone wants to conclude an agreement. And if they do not want to conclude an agreement, we will agree for them,” he said, adding that he expects to conclude agreements with each country “in the next three to four weeks”.
Trump also suggested that he was reluctant to further increase prices on China – which is currently 145%.
“I may not want to go higher. Maybe I would like to go less because you know, you want people to buy and, at some point, people will not buy,” he told journalists in the White House.
At a press conference Thursday after the conversation of Trump and Meloni, the leaders said they had discussed defense, immigration and prices.
The atmosphere of the oval office seemed relaxed and in good humor – similar to the reception that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer received during his visit to the White House in February.
However, Meloni’s aid described the visit as a “commercial peace mission” following Trump’s decision to impose a reference rate of 10% on almost all foreign imports in the United States.
He firmly criticized the European Union on trade, saying that it was “trained to screw the United States”. A tariff of 20% “reprisals” on the EU was temporarily suspended until July.
Meloni previously called “absolutely false” prices and said they would end up damaging the EU “as much as the United States”.
Although she did not score tangible victories on the prices during the meeting, she convinced Trump to accept an invitation to visit Rome, who, according to her, would be an opportunity for him to meet other European leaders.
Given the difficult relations between the EU and the United States, Meloni will probably reveal this as an important victory, especially if Trump agrees to meet the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during the visit.
Meloni will return to Europe with stronger references as so-called “Trump Whisperer”, something that will be reinforced when she meets the American vice-president JD Vance in Rome tomorrow.
The Italian chief took care to rent Trump and align with the points of view of the American president.
In her statement after the meeting, she criticized “Woke Ideology” and defended the “war on illegal migration”.
“The goal for me is to make the West great again, and I think we can do it together,” she added.
She also took the opportunity to boast of her own government’s work. “I am proud to sit here as Prime Minister of Italy who today has a very good situation – a stable country, a reliable country,” said Meloni.
She noted that her government had lowered inflation and improved employment, before making a gesture to Trump and adding with a broad smile: “forgive me if I promote my country, but you are a businessman and you understand me”. Trump smiles in return.
Meloni rushed into the praise that gave him Trump – compliments about his work as Prime Minister to spring from his “beautiful” Italian.
The American president congratulated Meloni for taking a difficult position on immigration and said he wanted more people to be like her. Meloni said that the change occurred, thanks to the example indicated by Italy, referring to yesterday EU announcement on safe countries.
It was only occasionally that she has shown an irritation shade when asked for low defense expenses from Italy.
Meloni said that she expects Italy to announce at the next NATO meeting in June that her country would be able to meet the requirements of the Alliance that each member nation spends 2% of GDP in defense.
Defense expenses were a key collision point for Trump, the American chief demanding on the NATO allies several times to increase spending.
Italy is one of the eight countries that do not currently respect the 2% threshold, spending 1.49% for defense.
The head of the Italian opposition, Carlo Calenda, said that there had been “two very positive results” of the visit: that Meloni “had remained on the right track in Ukraine and managed to convince Trump to meet EU figures in Italy”.
Calenda said Meloni had “gained credibility as a bridge between the United States and the EU”, but criticized his praise of “Fight of Trump on Woke culture”.
