US President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is visiting Washington on Thursday, are convinced that the European Union will be able to reach a business agreement with the US. They said at the beginning of their Thursday negotiations in the White House – just before the joint working lunch, TASR writes according to the AFP report.
Trump told reporters that the agreement would be 100 percent. According to DPA, he responded almost mocked to the question of a journalist asking what would happen if the agreement did not occur even after a 90-day postponement of tariffs for imports from the EU recently announced.
“Perhaps you think it will not … Of course, the business agreement will be. They want to conclude it very much, very, very. And we are going to conclude a business agreement, I expect it. DPA explains that the US President often expresses such clear statements to put pressure on partners in negotiations.
Immediately after this, the US President also convinced that his administration would achieve a “very good” trade agreement with China.
Meloni said it was sure that the EU agreement with the US can be achieved. She also stated that the United States is, despite recent steps in the area of Ciel, to import “reliable partner”.
“We can find a common ground. I am not a supporter of Western nationalism, but we can both be stronger, we want to strengthen both sides of the Atlantic,” she said, according to ANSA, saying that it is necessary to “honestly talk and meet halfway.”
The Prime Minister also invited Trump to an official visit to Italy. Trump accepted the invitation, the road should take place in the near future. Meloni said the wish that at that time would organize a meeting in Italy with other European leaders, and Trump said he would consider participating in it.
During the meeting with Trump, Meloni also said that Italy plans to increase her defense spending to two percent of GDP. According to her, Rome will announce this at the next NATO summit. At the beginning of the year, Trump called on NATO Member States to spend up to five percent of GDP for defense.
Trump introduced in early April the so -called. reciprocal duties for imports to the US. However, he postponed their validity by 90 days for most of the world, including the European Union. The only exception was China, whose duties still picked up to 145 percent.
