The Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, this Friday (19) accused the President of the United States, Donald Trump, of inventing a story about her, after the American told an Italian TV channel that she had “begged” to take a photo with him at a G7 summit.
Meloni said she was “appalled” by the comments, which were “completely made up.” She also rebuked him for acting with far more deference to the West’s enemies than to its former allies.
Underscoring how much Trump’s comments angered Meloni’s government, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced the cancellation of a planned visit to the United States next week.
The latest exchange marks a sharp deterioration in relations, coming just days after signs emerged at the G7 summit that the two right-wing leaders had stabilized a previously tense relationship following this year’s differences over the war against Iran.
Videos from the event in France showed Meloni and Trump in deep conversation, sitting side by side on a small sofa, but the American leader suggested he had merely pleased her by talking to her.
“She’s probably happy that I talked to her. I didn’t need to talk to her,” Trump said, according to La7 TV channel, in a brief interview, after he himself asked the journalist about the Italian prime minister.
“She begged me to take a photo with her. She really wanted a photo with me. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her,” said the American president, according to a translation by La7.
The channel did not release the original audio, only a dubbed version.
Prime Minister’s statement
Meloni responded: “Donald Trump’s statements are completely fabricated. I am frankly surprised. I don’t know why the President of the United States behaves like this towards his allies: in fact, it is not the first time.”
“I can only say that it is disappointing that he does not show the same determination towards the enemies of the West and the United States, whose leaders he treats with much more leniency,” she exclaimed, adding: “There is one thing he should remember: neither I nor Italy have ever begged.”
Announcing the cancellation of his planned trip to the United States, Foreign Minister Tajani said in a post on the social network X: “President Trump’s serious and offensive words against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend all of Italy.”
Senior Italian official says Trump is ‘destroying historic ties’
One of Meloni’s closest political allies, who generally avoids the media spotlight, criticized Trump in a tone that would have been unthinkable before.
“It is unclear whether through intent or incompetence (Trump) is destroying historic relations between the United States and Europe,” Giovanbattista Fazzolari, undersecretary of the prime minister’s office, said in a statement.
“With his inappropriate outbursts, he achieved a remarkable feat: making the United States unpopular throughout the European continent, harming not only Europe, but above all the United States,” he added.
Meloni and was the only European leader to attend his inauguration in 2025.
However, for her condemnation of the conflict with Iran. This, in turn, provoked a harsh reprimand from the American president, who accused her of lacking courage.
