Trump ‘in no rush’ to end tariffs as he holds talks with Italy’s Meloni
Ms Meloni is the first European leader to have face-to-face talks with him since he announced and partially suspended 20% tariffs on European exports.
US President Donald Trump has said he is in “no rush” to reach any trade deals because of the revenues his tariffs are generating.
But he suggested while meeting with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni that it would be easy to find an agreement with the European Union and others.
Mr Trump played down the likelihood of an accelerated timeline to wrap up deals, saying any agreements would come “at a certain point”.
“We’re in no rush,” the president said, hinting that he has leverage because other countries want access to US consumers.
Mr Trump later said: “We have a lot of countries that want to make a deal. Frankly, they want to make deals more than I do.”
Ms Meloni’s meeting with Mr Trump was a test of her mettle as a bridge between the EU and the United States.
She was the first European leader to have face-to-face talks with Mr Trump since he announced and then partially suspended 20% tariffs on European exports.
Ms Meloni secured the meeting as Italy’s leader, but she also has, in a sense, been “knighted” to represent the EU at a critical juncture in the fast-evolving trade war that has stoked recession fears.
The Trump administration has belittled its European counterparts for not doing enough on national security while threatening their economies with tariffs, sparking deep uncertainty about the future of the transatlantic alliance.
The Italian premier sought to portray the United States and Europe as natural allies in Western civilisation and said it was important to “try to sit down and find solutions” to tensions over trade and national security.
“The goal for me is to make the West great again,” Ms Meloni told Mr Trump.
The EU is defending what it calls “the most important commercial relationship in the world”, with annual trade with the US totalling 1.6 trillion euros (£1.3 trillion).
The Trump administration has said its tariffs would enable trade negotiations that would box out China, the world’s dominant manufacturer.
But Mr Trump maintains that rivals and allies alike have taken advantage of the US on trade.
Mr Trump tried to push back against claims that his tariffs are harming the economy, saying that fuel and egg prices are dropping.
The president blamed the Federal Reserve for interest rates rising on US debt even though the rates largely increased because investors were worried about Mr Trump’s tariff plans and they became less willing to buy Treasury notes.
Mr Trump said of inflation and the US public: “They’ve already seen it get much better.”
For European nations, trade negotiations fall under the authority of the EU Commission, which is pushing for a zero-for-zero tariff deal with Washington.
Administration officials, in talks with the EU, have yet to publicly relent on the president’s baseline 10% tariff.
Mr Trump paused for 90 days his initial 20% tax on EU products so that talks could occur.
The EU has already engaged with Trump administration officials in Washington.
Maros Sefcovic, the European commissioner for trade and economic security, said he met on Monday with commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Greer.
Mr Sefcovic said afterwards on X, formerly Twitter, that it would “require a significant joint effort on both sides” to get to zero tariffs and work on non-tariff trade barriers.
Ms Meloni’s margins for progress are more in gaining clarity on the Republican president’s goals rather than outright concessions, experts say.
“It is a very delicate mission,” said Fabian Zuleeg, chief economist at the European Policy Centre think tank in Brussels.
“There is the whole trade agenda, and while she’s not officially negotiating, we know that Trump likes to have this kind of informal exchange, which in a sense is a negotiation. So it’s a lot on her plate.”
As the leader of a far-right party, Ms Meloni is ideologically aligned with Mr Trump on issues including curbing migration, promoting traditional values and scepticism toward multilateral institutions.
But stark differences have emerged in Ms Meloni’s unwavering support for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
The two leaders are expected to discuss the war and Italy’s role in an eventual post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
Mr Trump is expected to press Ms Meloni to increase Italy’s defence spending, which last year fell well below the 2% of gross domestic product target for countries in the Nato military alliance.
Italy’s spending, at 1.49% of GDP, is among the lowest in Europe.
Despite the differences on Ukraine and defence spending, Ms Meloni is seen by some in the US administration as a vital bridge to Europe at a difficult moment for transatlantic relations.
Mr Trump is looking not only to discuss with Ms Meloni how “Italy’s marketplace can be opened up, but also how they can help us with the rest of Europe”, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters before the visit.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.
After being the only European leader to attend Trump’s January 20 inauguration, Ms Meloni has responded with studied restraint as abrupt shifts in US policy under Mr Trump have frayed the US-European alliance.
She has denounced the tariffs as “wrong” and warned that “dividing the West would be disastrous for everyone” after Mr Trump’s heated White House exchange with Ukraine’s president.
“She has been very cautious,” said Wolfango Piccoli, an analyst at the London-based Teneo consultancy.
“It is what we need when we have a counterpart that is changing every day.”
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday the administration is working on the “big 15 economies” first when it comes to trade deals.
He said South Korean officials will visit Washington next week.
