Italy PM Giorgia Meloni says it’s ‘infantile’ to recommend she has to decide on between US and Europe and says Donald Trump is RIGHT about Continent’s ruling class

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni is continuing her balancing act across the Atlantic as she suggested in a new interview she does not need to choose between Donald Trump or her European allies.

The president has declared economic war on America’s traditional allies, imposing a 25 per cent tariff on all car imports – dealing a blow to European manufacturers like BMW, Audi and Ferrari, which has said it will raise US prices 10 per cent in response.

Europe is preparing to retaliate in a ‘robust’ manner, setting the stage for a tit-for-tat trade spat and placing Meloni in a difficult spot as Trump’s bridge to the EU – made trickier his stance on Ukraine, which he says cannot be allowed to join NATO.

But the Italian premier – the only European leader to attend Trump’s second inauguration in January – has suggested it would be ‘childish’ to have to choose between supporting Europe or the 45th President in a new interview.

She told the Financial Times that she did not see Trump as an adversary, referring to him as Italy‘s ‘first ally’ – and that she agreed with the US administration’s attacks on EU leaders, whom it accused of suppressing free speech.

And Ms Meloni further said she understood the Apprentice star’s protectionist stance that has seen him slap tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, as well as steel imports including those from the UK, within his first 100 days.

She told the FT: ‘I’m conservative. Trump is a Republican leader. Surely I’m nearer to him than to many others, but I understand a leader that defends his national interests. I defend mine.’

Ms Meloni’s heavily right-leaning premiership has been seen as a guiding hand for Italy, which has been rocky since the fall of fascism at the end of World War II.

As leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, founded by the surviving comrades of Mussolini, she railed against migration and European collectivism from opposition before being elected in 2022.

A ruthless negotiator, she is reputed to carry her stationery in a pink pencil case, so those meeting her think she’s ‘like a little girl at school’, a source told the Telegraph.

‘And then, she kills them,’ the source said, reportedly making a finger gesture across his throat. 

But the Italian PM has softened her message since coming to power – working with the European Commission and standing in solidarity with Ukraine after the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Italy also joined the ‘coalition of the willing’ being built by Sir Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron to help oversee the formation of a European peacekeeping force to be sent to Ukraine – albeit with some reluctance.

Ms Meloni waited until the night before a virtual summit earlier this month to confirm she would in fact be attending, the Telegraph reported. She still believes it could be misinterpreted as a ‘threat’ by Russia.

But Italy’s position as the US’s ‘first ally’ is precariously managed; she avoided posting a message of solidarity with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the ill-fated White House meeting with Trump and vice-president JD Vance.

And in recent times, the famously tactile leader has built a very familiar relationship with billionaire Elon Musk, now a significant figure in the US Government. 

The bond was so close, in fact, that Musk took to his ailing social platform X to deny any ‘romantic relationship’ after they were pictured locking eyes as she was awarded an award by a think tank last year.

Meloni had requested that Musk present her with the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Award – which he did.

‘Italy can have good relations with (the) United States and if there is something that Italy also can do to avoid (a US) confrontation with Europe and to build bridges, I will do that — and it is in the interest of the Europeans,’ she said in the FT interview.

Last month, vice-president Vance sparked fury among EU top brass after he savaged them as ‘commissars’, accusing them of suppressing free speech and enabling mass migration.

In a brutal speech at the Munich Security Conference where he had been expected to address the means by which to end the war in Ukraine, Vance singled out member states for criticism including the UK over a ban on protests outside abortion clinics.

‘In Britain, and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat,’ he had said, adding: ‘If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you.’

He has since moaned in leaked texts from a Signal group, obtained by The Atlantic: ‘I just hate bailing Europe out.’ Secretary of Defense Pete Hesgeth then added: ‘I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s pathetic.’ 

Ms Meloni believed Vance was speaking for Trump in his Europe speech – and moreover, agreed with his stance. 

‘Europe has a bit lost itself,’ she said, adding that she believed the speech was aimed at its ‘ruling class… and the idea that instead of reading reality and finding ways to give answers to people, you can impose your ideology on (them).’ 

She has, however, insisted elsewhere that she does not ‘blindly follow’ either Europe or the US.

Her weakness in foreign policy could yet be capitalised on by challenger Matteo Salvini – her own deputy PM – who takes a firm stance against Ukraine at a time of dwindling support for the country among voters.

Salvini, leader of the rival Lega (League) party, has also been actively undermining his boss’ authority, holding his own phone call with JD Vance last week.

For now, Ms Meloni continues to walk Italy across its shaky tightrope – as a member state of a bloc she largely abhors, resisting the collective European stance on just about every issue, but with a seat at the table and the US President’s ear.