The intense tussle between US President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took a new turn on Monday when Italy responded to Trump’s latest attack following souring of relations between the two leaders.
On Monday, Trump shared a purported picture of Meloni and him on his Truth Social account and the title above it read: “Restraining order needed”.
Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto had sharp response to Trump’s post. He told news channel Sky TG24 that “people come and go but relations must endure”.
Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani also had a muted response to the post, saying that he was “sure that transatlantic relations go well beyond individual comments”, as reported by news agency AFP.
However, Meloni did not react directly to the post.
Despite initially extending open support to each other and both leaders hailing from right-wing politics, tensions first appeared when Meloni responded to Trump’s claims of her begging him for a photo at the recent G7 Summit held in Evian-les-Bains, France.
How Italy-US relations turned sour
The spat between two world leaders started at this year’s G7 summit at Evian-les-Bains in France, attended by multiple global leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
After the summit, President Trump claimed that Meloni “wanted a picture with me so badly” and that he ultimately only agreed because he “felt sorry for her”, according to a transcript provided by Italian television channel La7. He then took it a step further by suggesting that he was only doing a favour to his Italian counterpart by interacting with her at the summit in the first place.
“She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her,” Trump was quoted by the Italian channel.
Rebutting Trump’s claims, Meloni said that she was “frankly stunned” at his comments.
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“I can only say that it’s a shame he doesn’t show the same resolve toward the enemies of the West, toward the enemies of the United States — towards leaders with whom he, on the other hand, is much more accommodating. But there’s one thing he must remember, Italy and I do not beg,” she had said.
“Donald Trump’s statements are completely made up. I am frankly astonished. I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies: it is not the first time, moreover.”
The exchange was followed by several similar remarks. Meloni also claiming that being Trump’s ally had certainly not helped her popularity and advised him to focus on his own approval ratings.
This row triggered a diplomatic fallout between the two countries soon after as Tajani cancelled a scheduled visit to the US that month.
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President Trump and Prime Minister Meloni are expected to cross paths at this week’s NATO meeting in Ankara, Turkey.
