Meloni says ties with Trump remain 'cordial,' even as Italy labels him ‘US President who loves to provoke’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Meloni says ties with Trump remain 'cordial,' even as Italy labels him ‘US President who loves to provoke’")
US President Donald Trump (C) speaks as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (L) and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer watch during the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, 2025. Photograph: (AFP)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says her relationship with Donald Trump remains "cordial" despite weeks of public sparring over NATO, Iran and Trump's claim that she "begged" him for a photo.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday (Jul 7) said her relationship with US President Donald Trump remains "cordial", even as the two continue to exchange sharp remarks over NATO, Iran and a disputed photo claim that has stirred irritation in Rome. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey, Meloni tried to cool speculation that the row had damaged ties between the two leaders. Her comments came after weeks of friction, much of it triggered by Trump's claim that she had "begged" him for a picture during the G7 summit in Evian, France.
Meloni rejected that version of events, and the dispute was serious enough that Italy's foreign minister later cancelled a planned trip to the United States, according to CNN.
Italy will not play along
Now, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says the government is done responding to Trump's jabs. "He speaks for himself," Tajani said, adding that Meloni and other senior officials would simply ignore the posts and comments.
"We have a US President who loves to provoke, especially on social media. We have decided to stop responding to these remarks so as not to fuel disputes among our allies," he told La Stampa newspaper.
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"We are and will remain friends of the United States as our strategic partner and that of Europe," he added.
His message was clear. Italy does not want this becoming a full blown diplomatic spat, even if Trump keeps pushing it in public.
Trump calls Meloni "nice" but keeps the pressure on
Trump, for his part, did little to calm things down. During a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, he described Meloni as a "nice person" but also said their relationship had turned sour after Italy refused to support US military action against Iran.
"I think she's a nice person, actually. But I think she made a mistake," Trump said, according to CNN. He also insisted he had not leaned on her too hard, and blamed Italy, saying its refusal had "soured" the relationship "a little bit."
That followed a Truth Social post on Sunday in which Trump shared a photograph with Meloni and wrote, "RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED."
The comment that started the spat
Earlier, while speaking to Italian broadcaster La7, Trump had claimed that Meloni wanted a photo with him "so badly", saying he would not have taken it but "felt sorry for her."
"She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her," he said.
Meloni later fired back in a social media video, saying she was "astonished" by what she called the president's "completely made up" statements.
