Analysis: Trump puts Italy's Meloni in high-pressure role as bridge to EU on tariffs

WASHINGTON — “America first” met “Italy and Italians first” on Thursday at the White House, with tariffs atop the agenda as President Donald Trump huddled with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — suddenly a key European leader who could help close the trans-Atlantic trade chasm.

For the conservative Meloni, whose 2022 campaign slogan echoed Trump’s political mantra, there was much riding on her visit to Washington, with a senior White House official describing her as Trump’s bridge to a continent that was leery of his return and then sent into a fuss over his initially steeper-than-expected import duties, a list of which could return on July 9.

Trump’s trade war with allies and foes had been overtaken for much of this week by his mass deportation program — and a flap with Democrats and legal experts over the administration thumbing its nose at a Supreme Court directive to “facilitate” the return of a Maryland man deported to his native El Salvador and dubbed by Trump officials a “terrorist” and “gang member” without clear supporting evidence.

But as Trump and Meloni met Thursday, the tariff tussle was back in the spotlight. And amid the talks about a possible realignment of the U.S.-Italian trade arrangement, a Democratic group was hitting some vulnerable House GOP members over the import fees in new ads.

House Majority Forward, the advocacy arm of House Majority PAC, the leading House Democratic super PAC, deployed TV ads last week targeting Republican Reps. Mike Lawler of New York and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania over their support for Trump amid his tariff push. This week, the group launched digital ads aimed at 13 more. “Tell Young Kim: Stop Trump’s tariffs now,” an announcer says in a spot targeting the California Republican congresswoman.

As voters were digesting those ads, Trump and Meloni expressed confidence about finding a path out of the tariffs fog.

“I do like her very much. I think she’s doing a fantastic job,” Trump said of his Italian counterpart before lunch in the Cabinet Room. “One of the real leaders of the world. And I’m very proud to be with her.”

Meloni told reporters moments later that her goal was to “find ourselves in the best middle way to grow together. That’s why I’m here.”

Here are three takeaways from the high-stakes visit.

—‘Rest of Europe’

From the start of the day, Trump and his team made clear that Meloni and her government have taken on a greater strategic role since the U.S. president implemented his tariffs on April 2.

A senior administration official who briefed reporters before her arrival responded in the affirmative when asked whether the White House views Meloni as a bridge between Washington and the European Union on trade matters.

“Yeah. … Italy is a strong partner,” the senior Trump official said. “We see her as a valuable interlocutor with the rest of Europe.”

But that elevated role doesn’t mean Trump and Meloni will have much to discuss beyond Thursday’s meetings, after which no revised trade arrangement was announced. (Nor did the senior official set such an expectation earlier Thursday, saying the visit was the start of a longer “dialogue.”)

Among other matters, their discussions were expected to “focus on how Italy’s market could be opened up, and how they can help us with (the) rest of Europe,” the senior official said, noting that one bone of contention were tax laws in Italy that Trump’s team has concluded “disproportionately target U.S. companies.”

Another issue of focus: what Italian officials would be willing to do to open their trade market to more American companies and goods, the senior official said.

“She must defend Italy’s economic interests, sway the US administration away from a tit-for-tat trade war against the European Union, and reaffirm the importance of transatlantic unity— all while facing creeping domestic and European skepticism about her ability to deliver,” Nicholas O’Connell and Jacopo Pastorelli, analysts for the Atlantic Council think tank, wrote on Monday.

—‘In no rush’

With European stock markets having recently gone on a similar up-and-down ride as American ones, a major topic was a trade deal between Washington and Brussels.

“There will be a trade deal, 100 percent. … They want to make one very much. We’re going to make a trade deal. I fully expect it,” Trump said before the lunch meeting about a pact with European countries. He then added what has become his mantra about potential deals: “But it’ll be a fair deal.”

For her part, Meloni said before breaking bread with Trump that she wanted to “make the West stronger.” Asked if the United States remained a reliable trade partner, she responded, “If I (didn’t) think it’s a reliable partner, I wouldn’t be here.”

Notably, as he has multiple times in recent days, Trump signaled that the world would have to wait a while as he and his team hold talks with a raft of countries.

“We’re in no rush,” he said of negotiations with more than 75 countries and the EU.

But if Trump has a strategy or preference for an order in which he would like to ink and announce country- or bloc-specific deals, he wasn’t saying Thursday.

“Everybody’s on my priority list,” he said of other countries and the EU. But he also appeared to contradict his instinct to cut deals that would lower the import fee rates, declaring, “Tariffs are making us rich.”

Asked later Thursday during an Oval Office media availability about rising prices because of his import duties, Trump chided a reporter and contended that prices of many items, such as gasoline and eggs, had decreased under his second term. The actual price picture is more convoluted, with the latest government data showing a mixed bag on costs.

Meloni showed she has been studying how to deal with Trump, telling him in the Oval Office that Italian companies intend to invest around $10 billion in the United States over the next few years. Getting other countries to ramp up that spending has been a goal of Trump’s in his second term. Meloni also borrowed his political slogan when she said they should work together to “make the West great again.” She assured him that Italy was working to increase its defense spending to 2% of its gross domestic product, a longtime Trump demand of all NATO members.

—Vertice italo-americano?

The Italian leader on Thursday leaned into the role the White House was nudging her toward.

She said before the lunch meeting that her intention was to invite Trump for an official visit to Rome. Meloni indicated it could become a crucial U.S.-EU summit, or “vertice” in Italian.

Should Trump accept and make the trek to the Italian capital, Meloni said she would aim to “organize such a meeting with Europe” at which leaders could discuss each sides’ demands.

Separately, Vice President JD Vance is expected to stop in Italy over the next week while traveling with his family and is scheduled to meet with Meloni in Rome.

The Atlantic Council analysts made clear that the economic stakes for Italy, and all of Europe, are enormous, but they noted that Meloni “has a history of defying expectations, especially in her foreign policy decisions.”

“Meloni must resist the temptation of short-term wins and instead articulate a long-term vision of Italy — and Europe — as indispensable partners even in a reimagined global playing field,” O’Connell and Pastorelli wrote. “It would work in Italy’s favor, as well as that of the United States and the entire EU. Rome has long punched below its weight on the international stage. This visit offers Meloni the chance to change that.”

Still, Meloni tried managing expectations for what a single European leader could actually pull off alone.

“I’m sure we can make a deal, and I’m here to help on that. I cannot lock this deal in the name of the European Union,” she said during the lunch session, adding of a possible Rome summit: “I think the best way is that we simply speak frankly about the needs that every one of us has, and finding ourselves a needle. That’s useful for all.”