Milan – Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni He will prove his temper as a bridge between the EU and the United States when he meets with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, at the White House on Thursday, the first European leader to have a face -to -face face since he announced, and then suspended20% of tariffs on European exports.
Meloni assured the meeting at a critical situation in the commercial war as the leader of Italy, but has also been “appointed” to represent the European Union. She has been in close contact with the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, before the trip, and “the scope is … very coordinated,” said a spokeswoman for the commission this week.
“We know we are at a difficult time,” Meloni said this week in Rome. “Certainly, I am very aware of what I represent and what I am defending.”
The European Union is defending what it calls “the most important commercial relationship in the world”, with an annual trade that reaches 1.6 billion euros ($ 1.8 billion).
The commercial negotiations are under the authority of the European Commission, which is promoting a zero rate agreement for zero with the US. Paused for 90 days An increase in retaliation to 20%.
Pause has increased some hopes for negotiations, and Meloni’s progress margins are clearer about Trump’s objectives instead of direct concessions, experts say.
“It is a very delicate mission,” said Fabian Zuleeg, chief economist of the group of experts from the European Center for Policies in Brussels. “The entire commercial agenda is, and although it is not officially negotiating, we know that Trump likes to have this type of informal exchange, which in a certain sense is a negotiation. Therefore, he is much on his dish.”
As the leader of an extreme right party, Meloni is ideologically aligned with Trump on issues that include stopping migration, promoting traditional values and skepticism towards multilateral institutions. But marked differences have emerged in Meloni’s unshakable support to Ukraine.
After being the only European leader in Attend the inauguration of January 20Meloni has responded with the restriction studied, since abrupt changes in American policy under Trump have frayed the transatlantic alliance. She has denounced rates as “incorrect” and warned that “dividing the West would be disastrous for all”, after the heated exchange of Trump’s White House with the president of Ukraine.
“She has been very cautious,” said Wolfango Piccoli, an analyst at London’s office. “It’s what we need when we have a counterpart that is changing every day.”
Italy maintains a commercial surplus of 40 billion euros with the United States, the largest with any country, fed by the appetite of Americans by Italian foamy wineFoodstuffs as Parmigiano Reggiano Hard Cheese and Parma Ham, and Italian luxury fashion. These are critical sectors for the Italian economy, and mainly supported by small and medium producers who are central voters of the right -wing centers.
“In general, I think she will focus on the strong economic and commercial relations that Italy has with the United States, not only in terms of exports, but also services and energy,” said Antonio Villafranca, vice president of the group of ISPI experts in Milan. “For example, Italy could even consider importing more gas from the United States”
The meeting comes in the context of the growing concerns about the global uncertainty generated by the growing fees. Italy’s growth forecast for this year has already been reduced from 1% to 0.5% as a result.
Meloni is also expected to address Trump’s demand for NATO partners to increase military expenditure to 2% of the gross domestic product. The expense of Italy, with 1.49% of GDP, is among the lowest in Europe.
Experts warned, however, against the increase in expectations about any concrete progress.
“The best strategy has been very circumspected: getting there, getting the meeting, getting the photo opportunity,” said Piccoli. “If you can return and give an idea of how Washington wants to frame future relations on the trade, defense and policy of Ukraine, it would be a great victory.”
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AP Lorne Cook writers in Brussels and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
