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The far-right Italian prime minister, who has cultivated friendly relations with Trump, arrived in Washington on Wednesday night.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will try to shore up her credentials as a potential bridge between the EU and the US during a high-level summit with Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, the first European leader to meet the US president since he announced and then halted some of his planned trade tariff increases.
The far-right Italian prime minister, who has cultivated friendly relations with Trump, arrived in Washington on Wednesday evening. The pair will have lunch at 12:00 local time before meeting in the Oval Office, which will be attended by a group of White House and Italian journalists.
"As you can imagine, I'm not feeling any pressure at all. It's a difficult moment, let's see how the situation develops, but let's remember that we have the strength, the ability and the intelligence to overcome any obstacle," Meloni joked at an event in Rome this week.
Trump imposed 20% tariffs on EU products before suspending them for 90 days. The EU is subject to a 10% tariff imposed on most countries around the world since April 9.
Before leaving for Washington, Meloni discussed the summit with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Germany's outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his successor, Friedrich Merz, also discussed meeting with Meloni, according to reports in the German edition of Politico. Scholz failed to meet with Trump and Merz's request is reportedly pending.
Meloni has described Trump's tariffs on EU goods as "wrong," but the prime minister appears to be taking a more cautious approach as she manages a delicate balancing act between her political ideals, which are more in line with Trump's, and Italy's role within the EU.
The meeting has provoked fear among some of Italy's European allies, as well as Meloni's internal opposition, amid fears that their closeness endangers the bloc's unified approach to tariffs and other issues.
Enrico Borghi, a politician with the centrist Italia Viva party, said on a television show: "The advice from the opposition is for the prime minister to return home with negotiations reopened between the US and the EU, which will guarantee a framework of relative calm for our economic and productive system, which has been weakened by what is a real trade war."
Italy is the third-largest exporter to the US from the EU, although Meloni's office denied that it would seek special tariff exemptions for Italian products. Italy has strong economic ties with the US that go beyond exports, including foreign direct investment.
The summit is also expected to address Trump's demand that NATO partners increase military spending to 2% of GDP. Italy's share is currently at 1.49%, among the lowest in Europe.
This will be Meloni's third visit to the White House, with the previous two occasions during the Joe Biden administration.
Meloni will return to Rome in time to meet on Friday with Trump's deputy, JD Vance, whose harsh attack on Europe at the Munich Security Conference in February she defended.
Vance will also meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, during his Easter weekend visit./ Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "TheGuardian"
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