ROME – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has flown to Washington on Thursday to meet President Donald Trump in the latest of his series of meetings with tariffed foreign leaders. 

 “Productive” was the word of hour with President Trump, as he discussed how he viewed his prior meetings to have gone, with the press. Meloni was set to meet Trump for a lunch at 6.05 p.m. Italian time, which is about midday in America and an hour later there was set to be a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, along with a pool of White House reporters and Italian journalists. A joint press conference is not planned for the end of the meeting. 

 The Prime Minister and the Italian delegation will be guests of President Trump, at Blair House, where they will stay until the end of the visit.

 Before leaving for the US, meanwhile, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen had telephoned Meloni yesterday evening. Both Von der Leyen and the Prime Minister had "coordinated this visit" to Washington together, said the spokesperson for the European Commission, Arianna Podestà. She countined, “as we have already said several times, any contact with the US administration is welcome. The President [of the EU] herself said so. Of course, the negotiating authority falls to the Commission, but the contacts [with the Trump administration] are extremely positive and therefore the President and the Prime Minister of Italy have coordinated with each other.” 

 As Meloni arrived at the White House, President Trump greeted her with a handshake, pointing at her and saying "great person” to the members of the press present. After sitting down to talk Trump said he was "very confident" about a trade deal with the EU.  Trump then began to sing Meloni’s praises saying, “I really like Giorgia Meloni, she is one of the true leaders of the world. She is a great leader; an exceptional Prime Minister and she is doing an exceptional job in Italy. I am proud of her, and I am proud to be here with her.”

 Meloni then followed with her intentions to invite Trump to Italy for an official visit in order to organise a meeting with the European Union. “I believe we must speak with frankness and find a middle road,” said Meloni to Trump. “We can both find common ground. While am not in favour of Western nationalism, we can both come out stronger [working together]. We all wish to strengthen both sides of the Atlantic." She then continued, “some call me a Western nationalist. I don't know if that's the right definition, but one thing I’m certain of is that together, we are stronger."

 On the topic of the tariffs Trump said he was not worried about the resumption of relations between some allies with China. "No one can compete with us. We will reach an agreement with China too. I think it will be a profitable agreement, you will see".

 Meloni will leave Washington and return to Rome Thursday afternoon, where she is set to meet vice-president J.D. Vance at Largo Chigi on Friday. 

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