Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is scheduled to meet President Donald Trump on Thursday amid a tense trade dispute with the European Union over tariffs.
Meloni’s visit to Washington became the first European leader to meet the president since he announced tariffs on European imports earlier this month.
Trump is a fan of Meloni, the Italian Party leader of right-wing populist brothers. It rose to prominence along with the tide of other similar populist parties in Europe. He described her as a “fantastic woman.” The “fantastic woman” explained when she met in Marlago in January that she “really dominated Europe.”
But that relationship, and Meloni’s diplomatic skills, will be tested Thursday as leaders meet amid the broader concerns of a full-scale trade war between the US and the Bullock.
In early April, Trump announced 20% “mutual” tariffs on all imports from the EU as part of his broader global trade tariff policy. He then reduced his taxes to 10% in 90 days, allowing negotiations to be made to find a trade contract.
The EU has suspended retaliatory 25% tariffs targeting US exports worth 21 billion euros ($23.8 billion). European Commission Chairman Ursula von der Leyen commented last week that the EU hopes to “give a chance in negotiations” but should have proven not to be discussed.
The EU is watching Trump’s meetings with Trump carefully, hoping that he can support consultations to find compromises to resolve what Trump sees as unfair and unbalanced trade surplus with the United States.
Meloni is said to be something like a “Trump whisper” that can soothe the US leader’s position when it comes to trade with the EU. She won the Monica after Trump visibly enjoyed a five-hour meeting with her at the Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida in January. She is also by host vice president JD Vance, held in Rome on April 18th.
Thursday’s meeting “represents an important opportunity to demonstrate both his closeness with President Donald Trump and his potential role as a trusted interlocutor capable of energizing transatlantic dialogue,” Risk Consultant Co-Chair Wolfango Piccoli said last week in an email analysis.
“However, even before the ‘liberation date’ period (the name given to the day that US officials announced on April 2), there is growing concern that it could backfire, especially given Trump’s recent treatment of various foreign leaders,” the analyst added.
“One of the main challenges of this visit is to demonstrate that Meloni is not only defending Italian interests, but also acting as a mediator on behalf of the EU as a whole.”
Export-oriented Italy, the third largest economy in the Eurozone, can earn great profits from the EU-US trade agreement, as it does not want to lose its favorable markets for its top exports to the US. These include machines and medical products, cars, clothing, food and drinks. But in question for the Trump administration, Rome recorded a trade surplus of $43.9 billion with the United States in 2024, US data shows.
When Trump’s 20% tariff was announced in EU imports, Meloni was one of the leaders who lamented the decision, saying it was “wrong,” but urged European counterparts to try to avoid a trade war.
“The tariffs are wrong and not in the interest of either party,” Meloni said, adding that Italy will “do everything it can to tackle an agreement with the US with the aim of weakening the West in favour of other global players.”
Meloni also warned that Italian food and drink exports could be hit hard by tariffs, noting that “of course Italian agricultural foods that started in Europe are in demand all over the world.”
“It should be remembered that the US is the second largest destination market and exports rose 17% in 2024. The US market is the basis of the US.”
Teno’s Piccoli said Meloni’s careful reaction to US tariffs was also driven by her belief that the biggest risk to the Italian economy is now applied in a reduced form, particularly in the tariffs themselves.
“Scenarios like this could have a major impact on Italian finances. Current estimates suggest that tariffs could reduce Italian exports by 0.3% to 0.5% of GDP, but the actual effect could be reduced due to limited pass-through effects.