Italy's Meloni to act as bridge for EU-US trade tensions in meeting with Trump

WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump will meet with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday in a first face-to-face with a European leader since the 20% tariffs on European exports were suspended.

As the only European leader invited to Trump's inauguration in January, the European Union is hoping Meloni can act as a liaison and push for a zero-for-zero tariff deal with the U.S. to avoid escalations in a trade war.

Earlier this month, Trump put a 90-day pause on tariffs for countries while raising tariffs on China to 125% in response to the 84% retaliatory tariff China slapped on goods from the United States.

"I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately," the president wrote on Truth Social at the time.

The European Union followed suit and put retaliatory tariffs on the United States on pause for 90 days while stating, “We want to give negotiations a chance."

The EU originally put tariffs on $23 billion in U.S. goods in response to Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum, scheduled to begin on April 15, followed by additional rounds on May 15 and Dec. 1.

Italy maintains a 40 billion euro trade surplus with the United States, its largest with any country, fueled by Americans’ appetite for Italian sparkling wine, foodstuffs like Parmigiano Reggiano hard cheese and Parma ham, and Italian luxury fashion.

Meloni is also expected to address Trump's demand for NATO partners to increase military spending to 2% of gross domestic product. Italy’s spending, at 1.49% of GDP, is among the lowest in Europe.

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Editor's note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.