Washington:
US President Donald Trump said that he would reach “100 percent” a rates with the European Union, because Italian Prime Minister Giorgia led a charm offensive in the White House on Thursday.
Trump complimented the “fantastic” extreme right-wing leader, the first from Europe to visit the Republican since he drawed 20 percent rates on EU exports that he has suspended for 90 days since then.
Meloni threw himself as the only European that can de-escalate Trump's trade war with Europe and emphasized her conservative common land with Trump.
“The goal for me is to make the West great again, and I think we can do it together,” she told reporters in the Oval Office, and emphasized shared views on immigration and “ideology awake.”
Meloni said that Trump had accepted an invitation to visit Rome in the “near future” and that he would also meet European leaders there.
The two leaders spoke the chances of a deal, one of a series that Trump says that he will extract from large trading partners during his world shift rates.
“There will be a trade agreement, 100 percent,” Trump said during an earlier work lunch with Meloni, who said she was “sure” that they could reach an agreement.
But in a sign of the potential challenges that lie in front of us, Trump said that he was in “not a hurry” and that Meloni had not changed his view on his overall rate policy.
“Everyone wants to close a deal – and if they don't want to close a deal, we will close the deal for them,” Trump added.
Meloni was the only European leader invited to Trump's inauguration of January 20, and American officials said that she was “face to face with the president on many issues such as immigration and Ukraine.”
Trump said that Europe “had to become much smarter” about immigration and returned to the repeated attacks of his administration on the block on this subject.
– 'Aware of what I defend' –
The Russian war in Ukraine, however, remained a sensitive subject.
Meloni has been an avid ally of Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zensky since the invasion of Russia in the country in 2022, the most recently Moscow's Palm Sunday attack on the city of Sumy “terrible and mean.”
However, Trump has amazed allies with a pivot point to Moscow and repeated attacks on Zensky, which he tributed in an oval office meeting in February.
The American leader said with Meloni next to him: “I don't hold Zensky responsible, but I am not really happy with the fact that the war started,” adding that he was “not a big fan” of the Ukrainian.
Meloni had previously recognized the uncertainty that weigh on her journey, while Europe comes from repeated blows from a country that has been the defender of the continent for decades.
“Certainly, I am aware of what I represent and I am aware of what I defend,” Meloni said Tuesday.
Italian newspapers reported that one of the goals of Meloni's visit was to clear the way for a meeting between Trump and EU Chief Ursula von der Leyen.
Meloni's decision to intervene personally with Trump has caused some unrest among EU cuffs, who are concerned that her visit could undermine the block of unity.
“If we start having bilateral discussions, it will of course break the current dynamics,” warned the French Minister of Industry Marc Ferracci last week.
A spokeswoman for the European Commission said that although the EU could only negotiate trade agreements, Meloni's “Outreach” is very welcome “and was coordinated with Brussels.
After Thursday's meeting with Trump, Meloni will fly back to Rome on Friday to organize the American vice president JD Vance, with whom she has planned a meeting.
Trump's endangered rates can have a major impact on Italy, the world's fourth largest exporter, who sends around 10 percent of his export to the United States.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
