It looks as if the Italian prime minister’s teetering relationship with President Trump may have just fallen off a cliff. For weeks, tensions have been rising. Mr.
Trump has grown publicly frustrated with Giorgia Meloni, the right-leaning Italian prime minister, who had been one of his closest political friends on the international stage, for failing to support the war in Iran and for criticizing his broadside against Pope Leo XIV.
On Friday, she seemed to have had enough. After the president told an Italian journalist on Thursday that Ms. Meloni had “begged” him to take a photo together at the Group of 7 summit meeting in France this week, according to an English-language transcript shared by the TV reporter, Ms.
Meloni called Mr. Trump’s statements “totally invented. ” “Italy and I never beg,” she proclaimed in a video posted on social media. Ms. Meloni, who took office in 2022, had cast herself as the European leader who had the best relationship with the American president.
Even as relations have deteriorated, she has tried to smooth over ruffled feathers. This week, a Reuters camera had captured an exchange between Ms. Meloni and Mr. Trump at the G7 summit meeting where she emphasized that she and Mr.
Trump “have always been friends” and laughed off his retort that he had felt “abandoned” by her. On Thursday evening, Mr. Trump seemed not to want to reciprocate Ms. Meloni’s attempts at rapprochement.
He told the White House correspondent for La7, an Italian television news channel, that Ms. Meloni “wanted a picture with me so badly. ” We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
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