In a historic visit, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set to meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington on April 17, amid efforts to ease trade tensions between the two nations.
The Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni is set to meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday, April 17. The visit will focus particularly on the tariff dispute between the United States and the European Union.
Giorgia Meloni is an Italian politician serving as the President of Italy since September 2022.
Born on January 15, 1977, in Rome, Italy, she has been a prominent figure in Italian politics for over two decades.
A member of the Brothers of Italy party, Meloni has held various positions, including Minister of Youth and Minister of Defence.
She is known for her conservative views and has been a vocal critic of European integration.
Tensions have eased somewhat since the trip was first announced. The EU paused retaliatory tariffs on steel and aluminium after Donald Trump announced a 90-day suspension of 20% tariffs on the EU. However, despite this detente, Meloni wants to negotiate tariffs with the US.
Ahead of her trip, Giorgia Meloni told business leaders that she supported a European Commission proposal for zero tariffs between the US and the EU. The Reuters news agency cited a draft speech saying she would adhere to this position on her visit to Washington. However, Leo Goretti, the head of the Italian foreign policy program at the IAI, calls Meloni’s approach a ‘gamble.’ He believes that, despite their ideological closeness with Trump, Meloni cannot align with the US against Brussels.
Giorgia Meloni is under pressure from domestic economic interests. In 2024, Italy had a surplus of nearly €40 billion ($45.5 billion) on trade in goods with the US – the third-highest in the EU, after Germany and Ireland. However, the US market is still much less important for the Italian economy than the EU single market.
Brussels has repeatedly emphasized that negotiating tariffs is fundamentally the responsibility of the European Commission. EU spokesperson Arianna Podesta said that there had been contact between EU Commission president von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Meloni, with further communication planned before Meloni’s departure.
