The president of the United States, Donald Trump, said that “100%” would reach a tariff agreement with the European Union, since the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia directed an offensive of charm in the White House on Thursday, April 17.
Trump congratulated the “fantastic” leader of the extreme right, the first in Europe to visit the Republican, since he slapped 20% of EU export rates that has since been suspended for 90 days.
Throwing itself as the only European who can display Trump’s commercial war with Europe, Meloni highlighted his conservative common land with Trump. “The goal for me is to make the West great again, and I think we can do it together,” journalists from the Oval office told journalists, highlighting the shared opinions about immigration and “arouse ideology.” Meloni said Trump had accepted an invitation to visit Rome in the “near future” and that he could also meet European leaders there.
The two leaders spoke with the possibilities of an agreement, one of a series that Trump says that he will extract from the main commercial partners about their rates that demonstrate the world. “There will be a commercial agreement, 100%,” Trump said a previous work lunch with Meloni, who said he was “safe” that they could reach an agreement. But in a sign of the possible challenges ahead, Trump said he was not “without hurry” and that Meloni had not changed his mind in his general tariff policy. “Everyone wants to make a deal, and if they don’t want to make a deal, we will deal with them,” Trump added.
Meloni was the only European leader who was invited to the opening of Trump’s January 20, and US officials said he was “face to face with the president on many issues such as immigration and Ukraine.”
Trump said Europe needed “being much smarter” in immigration, returning to repeated attacks of his administration to the block on the subject.
‘Aware of what I’m defending’
However, Russia’s war in Ukraine remained a delicate issue. Meloni has been a firm ally of Ukraine and President Volodyyr Zenskyyr Zensky since the country’s Russian invasion in 2022, more recently calling the attack of Ramos de Moscow’s Sunday against the city of Sumy “Horry and Vile”.
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However, Trump has surprised the allies with a pivot towards Moscow and repeated attacks against Zensky, whom he rebuked at an oval office meeting in February.
The United States leader said with Meloni at his side that “I did not hold Zelensky, but I am not exactly excited about the fact that the war began,” he added that “he was not a big fan” of the Ukrainians.
Meloni had previously recognized the uncertainty he weighed on his trip as Europe extends through the repeated blows of a country that has been the defender of the continent for decades. “Surely, I am aware of what I represent and I am aware of what I am defending,” Meloni said on Tuesday.
Italian newspapers reported that one of Meloni’s visit was to pave the way for a meeting between Trump and the EU Chief Ursula von der Leyen. Meloni’s decision to intercede personally with Trump has caused some concern among EU allies, who are concerned that their visit can undermine the block unit. “If we begin to have bilateral discussions, it will obviously break the current dynamics,” warned the Minister of the Industry of France, Marc Ferracci, last week.
A spokeswoman for the European Commission said that while the EU could only negotiate trade agreements, the “scope of Meloni is very welcome” and was coordinated with Brussels.
After Thursday’s meeting with Trump, Meloni will fly back to Rome on Friday to receive the United States vice president, JD Vance, with whom he has a planned meeting.
Trump’s threatened tariffs could have a great impact on Italy, the world’s largest exporter, which sends about 10% of its exports to the United States.
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