Italy’s right-wing chief Meloni positions herself as Trump’s ally in Europe

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a shock go to to Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, assembly incoming President Donald Trump for the second time since he received the U.S. election in November.

Throughout the assembly in Florida, Trump described Meloni as a “implausible girl… she’s actually taken Europe by storm” in a briefing with reporters.

Meloni, in the meantime, posted on X that she’d had a “good night” with Trump, including that she was “able to work collectively,” based on a Google translation of her put up.

She had beforehand spoken with the president-elect on the sidelines of the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris in early December.

The mutual admiration means Meloni is well-placed to place herself as Trump’s key ally in Europe. Her trans-Atlanic efforts come at a sophisticated time for different European heavyweights Germany and France, whose leaders are scuffling with home political challenges and have each confronted criticism from Trump.

Meloni has plenty of causes to court docket the incoming administration, not least Trump’s tariff risk to Europe. Throughout his reelection marketing campaign, the previous president threatened to impose a ten% tariff on all items imported to the U.S. — the European Union’s largest buying and selling associate by way of exports.

For Italy, the fee could possibly be vital.  

A research by European danger evaluation agency Prometeia calculated that 10% duties on imports may value the Italian financial system as much as $7 billion, because the U.S. is the nation’s second-largest export market after Germany. Caixabank analysts put Italy’s publicity to the U.S. at round 4% of GDP, simply behind Germany at 5%.

Alongside her conferences with Trump, Meloni has additionally been cultivating ties with Elon Musk, the Tesla boss who is predicted to play a key position in Trump’s new administration. In an interview with Italian information outlet Corriere della Sera, she described him as a “nice determine of our occasions,” including he’s a “genius” and wrongly portrayed as a “monster.”