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A transatlantic friendship built on shared right-wing politics has fractured dramatically after U.S. President Donald Trump made a series of dismissive remarks about Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and she fired back.
The row began when Trump told an Italian television channel, La7, that Meloni had “begged” him to take a photograph with her during the recent G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France. He went further, claiming he had merely “felt sorry for her” and would not have taken the photo otherwise.
Meloni’s response was swift and unsparing. “President Trump’s words are pure fantasy,” she said. “We do not understand why the President of the United States behaves like this, especially towards allies. We would like to see him behave as firmly with the enemies of the West. Myself and Italy do not beg anybody.”
The rebuke is one of the sharpest Italy has directed at Washington in recent memory, and the diplomatic fallout was immediate.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced the cancellation of a planned visit to the United States, calling Trump’s remarks “grave and offensive” and saying they “offend the whole of Italy.”
The clash comes just days after the G7 summit appeared to signal a steadying of the relationship between the two leaders, following months of friction over the war on Iran. Video from the summit showed Trump and Meloni engaged in close, seemingly warm conversation, a far cry from the version Trump chose to present on Italian television.
The deterioration is striking, given how close the two were once. Meloni was among Trump’s most vocal European supporters and the only European leader to attend his 2025 inauguration. Their alliance was seen as a bridge between Washington and a sceptical Brussels. That bridge now looks considerably shakier.
