Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met White House President Donald Trump. A bilateral meeting held in an oval office, followed by lunches that closed in the cabinet room, with the two leaders answering questions from a pool of White House reporters and Italian journalists reaffirming their close understanding and relationship.
Trump has accepted an invitation by the Italian Prime Minister for an official visit to Rome in the “near future” “near future” “near future” “near future” “more future” “meloni” says that the US president visiting Italy may also consider meeting with EU representatives.
“If Meloni remains prime minister, Italy could become America’s best ally,” Trump said. “She’s a great person, she does a great job and our relationship is great. Italy is one of our closest allies, not just Europe,” he added.
Regarding customs, both leaders said they are confident they can find fair deals. “There’s no problem with dealing with the EU on tariffs. No one will,” Trump emphasized in his oval office.
The US President repeatedly said he was in negotiations with several countries, but insisted that he was “not in a hurry.” “The US will also do quite a bit of business with China on tariffs,” he added.
Meloni added that she is confident that she may reach an agreement and that she believes “we need to be open and be in the middle.”
“I believe in Western unity. We simply have to talk to the outcome, find ourselves to reach the outcome and grow together. When I talk about the West, I speak not only geographically but as civilization,” said Trump’s “make America great again,” Meloni. Make the West wonderful again.
The Italian Prime Minister also announced that Italy “must increase its energy imports” and that “Italian companies will invest 10 billion euros in the United States.”
Defence spending, migration, the war in Ukraine and the nuclear deal with Iran were also one of the topics discussed at a warm meeting of the two leaders.
Meloni: Italy increases defense spending
“Italy is planning to reach a 2% threshold,” the Prime Minister announced, referring to the NATO defense spending requirements, a hot topic for the 47th US President, who repeatedly warned that Washington would be withdrawn from the alliance if European countries do not play their role and invest in their defensive capabilities.
“Italia will announce that it will increase spending to 2% on demand at its next NATO summit. Europe is working on measures to enable and support member states to increase their defensive spending.
Trump asked if a 2% target was enough, and replied, “It’s never enough.”
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“Italy and the United States share a common position on many issues, including irregular immigration and the fight against synthetic drugs,” Prime Minister Meloni said.
After repeating the tough lines imposed in the first few months of his presidency against his presidency (irregular and others) against US immigration, Trump shifted his focus to Europe and criticised his immigration policy.
“I’m not a big European fan, and it’s what they did with immigrants, but I think they have to be smarter because they’ve been seriously affected by what they did,” Trump said.
The Italian leader quickly stepped in and said that European policy was also changing, and that Italy had some credit.
“We’re beginning to do this. You can see the policies that Europe is implementing. The European Commission has just passed regulations on repatriation, and things are changing.
Trump: “I’m not a Zelenskyy fan.”
Meloni did not avoid the subject of war in Ukraine,
For months, the two leaders have shown their position on the issue is far apart, if not the only one, of the pair’s contest points.
“There was an invasion, and I think the invaders were Putin and Russia, but what’s important today is that we want to work together and we are working to reach a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. These are also efforts that shared the work of today,” Meloni said.
“Italians are extremely helpful in supporting Ukraine,” Trump said.
“Now I’m trying to finish it, but as you know, Russia is much bigger in military power and if you’re smart, you won’t be involved in a war that you can’t handle later,” the US president added.
“I’m not saying he (Zelenskyy) did his biggest job. Are you okay? I’m not a huge fan. I’m not a huge fan.”
