Donald Trump greets Giorgia Meloni during a summit on Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in October, 2025.EVAN VUCCI/AFP/Getty Images
If Donald Trump had one loyal ally in the European Union, it was Giorgia Meloni.
Ms. Meloni, Italian Prime Minister since 2022 and chief of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, was the only European leader invited to Mr. Trump’s inauguration as U.S. President in January, 2025. They shared a nationalistic, anti-migrant, conservative agenda and regularly heaped praise on one another.
“Italy and the United States are ‘sister’ nations, bound by an unbreakable alliance,” she wrote on Instagram after Mr. Trump was elected for the second time. Mr. Trump invited her to Mar-a-Lago and routinely called her a “fantastic” leader, one who has “really taken Europe by storm.”
Donald Trump’s awkward history of insults and arguments with G7 leaders
The relationship was so strong that, during 2025’s U.S.-EU tariff wars, The Washington Post dubbed her the “Trump whisperer,” suggesting that if any leader could blunt his anti-EU ire, it would be Ms. Meloni.
Today, the relationship is in tatters. What began as a seemingly childish spat over whether Ms. Meloni did or did not demand a photo with Mr. Trump at the G7 summit last week in France escalated over the weekend into a proper blowout.
Trump speaks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, left, and Meloni at a working lunch with G7 leaders in Evian-les-Bains, France, last week.Evelyn Hockstein/The Associated Press
It would be premature to say the highly public fight amounts to a permanent rupture. But it was certainly emblematic of the White House’s tortured and waning alliances with much of Europe, including a few of NATO’s biggest member states. Mr. Trump’s loss of Ms. Meloni as a fawning ally only confirmed the widening breach.
The spat began Friday, shortly after the conclusion of the summit, when Mr. Trump used an interview on Italy’s La7 TV network to say that Ms. Meloni had “begged” him for a photo of them together. He obliged, he said, because he “felt sorry” for her.
Ms. Meloni was quick to respond − and there was no diplomatic restraint. She called Mr. Trump’s version of events “totally invented,” adding, “Neither I nor Italy ever beg.”
Trump escalates clash with Italy’s Meloni, who says his ‘unprovoked attacks are senseless’
Mr. Trump doubled down on his accusations over the weekend, threw in a few insults and misspelled Ms. Meloni’s first name (he later corrected it) on social media. He said, “She’s doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity. Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her ‘numbers up.’ No thanks!!!”
To which Ms. Meloni responded: “As for my popularity, being your friend certainly has not helped it.” She went on to say that her own popularity was “none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours.”
An open spat between the two leaders is not shocking at all, considering that their relationship has been on the downswing since last year.
Mr. Trump’s tariffs on imports from the EU – Italy is the bloc’s second-biggest exporter − and support for Israel have been unpopular among Italians. Last October saw mass pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country.
The rift deepened after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Ms. Meloni declared the war illegal and refused to allow the U.S. to use the Sigonella air and naval base in Sicily – a long-time U.S. military hub in the Mediterranean – to bomb Iran.
Some Italians thought Mr. Trump was not being outrageous when he criticized Ms. Meloni for her anti-war stand. “When Trump complains that Italy has denied U.S. bomber access to the Sigonella airbase in Sicily, dragged its feet over deployments toward Hormuz and still treats defence spending as a political hot potato, he is voicing the irritation of the U.S. defence establishment, not just his own,” said Francesco Galietti, the chief executive of Policy Sonar, a political risk consultancy in Rome.
Mr. Trump ramped up the diplomatic tension in April when he lashed out at Pope Leo XIV for his anti-war statements. Ms. Meloni called Mr. Trump’s comments “unacceptable.”
Italian members of parliament and media outlets across the political spectrum defended Ms. Meloni’s counterattacks, saying that the President had dishonoured her and Italy. Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Tajani pulled out of a planned diplomatic visit to the U.S.
Several prominent European politicians also rallied to Ms. Meloni’s cause. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has a history of antagonizing Mr. Trump, expressed “all my solidarity” with Ms. Meloni. Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken said Mr. Trump’s attacks on Ms. Meloni “divide the West and achieve nothing.”
In the end, the spat seemed to work in Ms. Meloni’s favour, since Mr. Trump’s approval rating among Italians has cratered. A May YouGov poll put it at only 8 per cent; Ipsos tallied it that month at 15 per cent. Even the majority of Italy’s centre-right voters don’t like the man.
The next Italian election has to happen before December, 2027. Ms. Meloni must know that cozying up to Mr. Trump is no vote getter. Other European leaders probably feel the same.