Meloni vs. Trump: Spat Over G7 Photo Escalates

Trump responded to the rejection with a new attack. On Truth Social, he wrote: "Jetzt, nachdem die Vereinigten Staaten Iran militärisch besiegt haben, möchte sie wieder Freundschaft schließen, um ihre ‚Umfragewerte zu verbessern'." He also accused Italy of having denied U.S. aircraft the use of Italian runways, which had represented a "erhebliche logistische Unannehmlichkeit". Trump further complained that the U.S. "jährlich Hunderte von Milliarden Dollar zum Schutz Italiens und anderer ‚sogenannter' Nato-Verbündeter beitragen".

Meloni's Sharp Response on Instagram

Meloni responded with a sharp public reply. In an Instagram post, she declared: "Deine Freundin zu sein, hat meiner Beliebtheit sicherlich nicht geholfen." And further: "Was meine Beliebtheit angeht, so hat es ihr sicherlich nicht geholfen, Ihr Freund zu sein, und sie hängt auch nicht von meiner Beziehung zu Ihnen ab." She added: "Italien bleibt eine souveräne Nation" and urged Trump: "Ich schlage vor, du konzentrierst dich auf dein eigenes." In Italian media, the wording was rendered as "Meine Beliebtheit geht Sie nichts an".

Background: Greenland, Iran and NATO

The dispute has a backstory: Already in January 2026, Meloni had cautiously distanced herself from the U.S. after Trump's tariff announcements against several EU countries in the Greenland conflict. In the Iran war, the 49-year-old rejected Italian participation in the American-Israeli attacks. Trump had subsequently already repeatedly criticized the Italian head of government.

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani canceled a planned visit to the U.S. in response to Trump's "schweren und beleidigenden Worte". This further intensified the diplomatic crisis between the two NATO partners. Tajani described the president's choice of words as insulting and unacceptable.

Economic Interdependence Under Pressure

The conflict also has an economic dimension: In 2025, Italy exported goods and services worth more than 78 billion dollars to the U.S. In the last quarter of 2025, Italian exports to the U.S. even surpassed those of Japan. Italy is thus one of the United States' most important trading partners in Europe – and at the same time the NATO founding member state with the greatest dependence on the American security umbrella.

The G-7 summit in the French town of Évian, at which Trump had made a surprise appearance, is considered a turning point in the relationship between Washington and Rome. Observers interpreted the meeting as a sign of Trump's growing isolation within the group of seven major industrialized nations. Meloni had visibly sought to mediate between the U.S. and the European partners there, but repeatedly distanced herself from Trump's line.

Mary Trump: Psychologist Warns About U.S. President

Mary L. Trump, the president's niece and a trained psychologist, commented in an interview with the Milan daily "Corriere della Sera" on her uncle's repeated attacks on the Italian head of government. She described Trump as "einen zutiefst unsicheren Mann" and said: "Mein Onkel Donald ist ein Frauenfeind. Er respektiert Frauen nicht, er hat Probleme mit ihnen, insbesondere mit starken Frauen."

Mary Trump also warned: "Wenn er glaubt, unterzugehen, wird er uns mit sich in die Tiefe ziehen." She added: "Wie Meloni inzwischen selbst feststellen muss, richtet sich Donald am Ende immer gegen seine Verbündeten, weil sie für ihn nie loyal genug sein können." She also said: "Das Einzige, was ihm dann einfällt, ist, anderen die Schuld zu geben."

The psychologist elaborated: "Ich denke, dass das meiste von dem, womit wir derzeit konfrontiert sind, auf seinen stark beeinträchtigten emotionalen und psychologischen Zustand zurückzuführen ist." She added: "Hinzu kommt, dass er heute über wesentlich mehr Macht verfügt" – an allusion to the president's expanded power since his return to the White House.

Mary Trump also pointed to Trump's behavior at the recent G-7 summit. She diagnosed that Trump is "zunehmend isoliert", as the summit in Évian had shown. In her view, this isolation explains part of the aggression toward former allies such as Meloni. She emphasized that the pattern of attacks on strong women is not a new phenomenon.

Meloni announced on Sunday that she did not wish to address the photo issue further, "da ich nach wie vor an die Einheit des Westens glaube und nicht der Meinung bin, dass dies ein Schauspiel ist, das unserer Aufgabe gerecht wird". She thereby sought to contain the escalation and not to continue fighting the conflict publicly. At the same time, however, she stuck to her accusations that the attacks were "sinnlos".

Consequences for Transatlantic Relations

The incident casts a spotlight on the strained relationship between the U.S. and one of its most important European allies. Observers in Rome and Brussels see the public exchange as the lowest point so far in the relationship between Trump and Meloni, who had previously presented themselves as pragmatic partners at international occasions.

Trump had also complained in his Truth Social post: "Sie gestattete uns nicht einmal die Nutzung italienischer Landebahnen – ein erheblicher logistischer Nachteil." He was thereby referring to Italy's refusal to grant U.S. military aircraft landing rights at Italian bases during the Iran conflict. This decision had been interpreted in Rome as a gesture of distance from the American military operations.

On the diplomatic level, Tajani's canceled visit to Washington is expected to have short-term consequences. The Italian government emphasized that it remains committed to the transatlantic alliance but demands respectful treatment. In Rome, there is also discussion of whether bilateral dialogue can continue at the technical level.

Overall, the conflict makes clear how much the relationship between the U.S. and Italy has suffered under Trump's second term. While Rome is, on the one hand, economically heavily dependent on the United States and remains reliant on American support within NATO, the recent episodes show that Meloni is increasingly willing to publicly contradict the president's behavior.

Among Italian politicians and commentators, the dispute is assessed differently. Some see Meloni's sharp response as a necessary defense of Italian sovereignty; others warn of lasting damage to the alliance with Washington. What is certain is that the tone between Rome and the White House has sunk to a low point, also given symbolic expression by the foreign minister's canceled trip.