Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni talked up the chances of a trade deal between the US and Europe, as the Italian prime minister visited Washington.
“There will be a trade deal, 100%,” Trump said, “but it will be a fair deal”, while Meloni said she was “sure” they could reach an agreement, later adding that her aim was to “make the West great again”.
Meloni is the first European leader to visit Washington since Trump imposed, then paused, 20% tariffs on imports from the bloc.
The US president separately said on Thursday that he is confident of making “a very good deal” with China, adding that representatives from Beijing have reached out “a number of times”.
Trump and Meloni enjoy a good relationship and the Italian leader hopes to position herself as a bridge between the EU and the US amid fractured relations and mounting concerns about the global impact of Trump’s tariffs.
Despite his confidence in an eventual deal, Trump said he was in “no rush”.
“Everybody wants to make a deal. And if they don’t want to make a deal, we’ll make the deal for them,” he said, adding that he expects to cut deals with every country “over the next three to four weeks”.
Trump also suggested thathe was reluctant to further raise tariffs on China – which currently stand at 145%.
“I may not want to go higher. I may want to go to less because you know, you want people to buy and, at a certain point, people aren’t gonna buy,” he told reporters at the White House.
At a press conference on Thursday following Trump’s and Meloni’s conversation, the leaders said they had discussed defence spending, immigration and tariffs.
The atmosphere in the Oval Office appeared relaxed and good-natured – similar to the reception UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer received during his visit to the White House in February.
However Meloni’s aides had described the visit as a “commercial peace mission” following Trump’s decision to impose a 10% baseline tariff on almost all foreign imports to the US.
He has strongly criticised the European Union on trade, claiming it was “formed to screw the United States”. A 20% “retaliatory” tariff on the EU has been temporarily suspended until July.
Meloni previously called the tariffs “absolutely wrong” and said they would end up damaging the EU “as much as the US”.
While she didn’t score any tangible wins on tariffs during the meeting, she did convince Trump to accept an invitation to visit Rome, which she said would be an occasion for him to meet other European leaders.
Given the fraught relations between the EU and the US, Meloni will likely chalk that up as a significant win, particularly 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 credentials as the so-called “Trump whisperer”, something that will be reinforced when she meets US Vice President JD Vance in Rome tomorrow.
The Italian leader was careful to praise Trump and align herself with the US president’s viewpoints.
In her statement following the meeting, she criticised “woke ideology” and championed the “war against 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 seized the opportunity to tout the work of her own government. “I’m proud of sitting here as prime minister of an Italy that today has a very good situation – a stable country, a reliable country,” Meloni said.
She noted that her government had brought inflation down and improved employment, before gesturing towards Trump and adding with a broad smile: “Forgive me if I promote my country, but you’re a businessman and you understand me”. Trump grinned back.
Meloni basked in the praise lavished on her by Trump – from compliments about her work as prime minister to gushing about her Italian sounding “beautiful”.
The US president praised Meloni for taking a tough stance on immigration and said he wished more people were like her. Meloni said that change was happening, thanks to the example set by Italy, referring to yesterday’s EU announcement on safe countries.
It was only occasionally that she showed a tinge of irritation when asked about Italy’s low defence spending.
Meloni said that she expects Italy to announce at the next Nato meeting in June that her country would be able to meet the alliance’s requirement that each member nation spends 2% of GDP on defence.
Defence spending has been a key sticking point for Trump, with the US leader repeatedly demanding that Nato allies increase spending.
Italy is one of eight countries that currently does not meet the 2% threshold, spending 1.49% on defence.
Italian opposition leader Carlo Calenda said there had been “two very positive outcomes” from the visit: that Meloni “stayed on track on Ukraine and managed to convince Trump to meet EU figures in Italy”.
Calenda said Meloni had “gained credibility as a bridge between the US and the EU” but criticised her praise of “Trump’s fight on woke culture”.
