Trump speaks of friendly relationship with Meloni at NATO summit

Meloni responds briefly in Ankara

At the NATO leaders' dinner in Ankara, Meloni was asked about her relationship with Trump. She answered only: "Freundlich." When journalists followed up, asking whether there had been a reconciliation after the mutual verbal attacks of recent days, Meloni said: "Ich habe Ihnen bereits geantwortet."

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told broadcaster Sky TG24 that Italy would fundamentally not respond to statements of this kind. "Wir haben von Anfang an gesagt, dass wir auf Erklärungen dieser Art nicht reagieren werden," said Tajani. At the same time, he stressed that the Italian side did not wish to overstate the incident.

Reaction from the Italian Foreign Ministry

The Italian Foreign Ministry added that it was "überzeugt, dass die transatlantischen Beziehungen weit über einzelne Äußerungen hinausgehen." Trump's behavior, it added, "kommentiere sich von selbst" – an allusion to the fact that Rome wants to see the ball in Washington's court.

Trump himself sought, by his own account, to downplay the dispute. He pointed out that he and Meloni had met repeatedly on various occasions – including the G7 meeting in Évian. Observers interpreted this as an attempt to smooth the waters ahead of the summit in Ankara.

Background and significance of the episode

The background to the latest tensions is a phase of mutual provocations that has been interpreted in Italian media as a stress test for the traditionally close relationship between Rome and Washington. The episode also came at a time when issues such as the stationing of US aircraft in Sicily – notably at the Sigonella base – and security policy coordination within NATO were on the agenda.

At the summit in Ankara, participants intended to focus primarily on deliberations about the alliance's future direction. However, the bilateral sparring match between Trump and Meloni was viewed by diplomats as an indication that personal sensitivities could place an additional burden on the negotiations. A clarifying conversation between the two was not ruled out for the remainder of the meeting.

Italian government circles signaled that they would not further fuel the episode. They said they continued to count on a substantive dialogue with Washington. If the exchange remained a one-off verbal spat, the damage to relations would be limited – an assessment shared in transatlantic forums.