Italy's prime minister meets with Trump, NYT reports details
Photo: Prime Minister of Italy Giorgio Meloni (flickr.com eda_dfae)
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited newly elected US President Donald Trump. The informal meeting took place at his Florida golf club on January 4, according to The New York Times.
According to the publication, the trip took place just a few days before Meloni is set to meet with US President Joe Biden in Rome during his official visit to Italy and the Vatican from January 9-12.
According to pool reports, Trump said he had dinner with Meloni, whom he referred to as a "fantastic woman."
They then, along with some potential members of Trump’s future administration, including Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, watched a movie together.
War in Ukraine among the topics
As noted by The New York Times, Meloni and Trump had previously expressed mutual admiration, and her visit is one of the first by a foreign leader to the newly elected president’s estate in Florida after his election.
"The meeting reinforces the hopes of Ms. Meloni’s supporters that the conservative Italian prime minister will become Mr. Trump’s go-to ally in Europe," the journalists believe.
A significant part of this role, the authors emphasize, would involve mediating tensions between other European leaders and Trump, who had threatened to start a trade war with the continent, as well as reduce American support for some NATO countries and Ukraine in its war with Russia.
"The agenda of the meeting was unclear on Saturday night, but observers expected the two leaders would discuss those issues," the article states.
Arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala
Another possible topic, according to observers, is the arrest in Iran of prominent Italian journalist Cecilia Sala.
This occurred just a few days after Italy arrested an Iranian at the request of the United States. He is suspected of supplying drone components to the country.
Iran regularly detains foreigners and people with dual citizenship to exchange them for money and other individuals.
Trump’s statements
In early November, the US held presidential elections, with Republican Donald Trump emerging victorious.
Since then, he has already made several statements. In particular, Trump demanded that European countries increase aid to Ukraine and did not rule out reducing aid to Ukraine when he takes office in the US.
