Italy's Meloni will test her mettle as EU-US bridge when she meets Trump in Washington
As the leader of a far-right party, Meloni is ideologically aligned with Trump on issues including curbing migration, promoting traditional values and skepticism toward multilateral institutions. But stark differences have emerged in Meloni's unwavering support for Ukraine.
After being the only European leader to attend the Jan. 20 inauguration, Meloni has responded with studied restraint as abrupt shifts in US policy under Trump have frayed the trans-Atlantic alliance.
She has denounced the tariffs as "wrong" and warned that "dividing the West would be disastrous for everyone," after 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.''
Italy maintains a 40 billion euro trade surplus with the United States, its largest with any country, fueled by Americans' appetite for Italian sparkling wine, foodstuffs like Parmigiano Reggiano hard cheese and Parma ham, and Italian luxury fashion. These are all sectors critical to the Italian economy, and mostly supported by small- and medium-sized producers who are core center-right voters.
"All in all, I think she will focus on the very strong economic and trade relations that Italy has with the United States, not just in terms of exports, but also services and energy," said Antonio Villafranca, vice president of the ISPI think tank in Milan. "For example, Italy could even consider importing more gas from the US."
The meeting comes against the backdrop of growing concerns over global uncertainty generated by the escalating tariff wars. Italy's growth forecast for this year has already been slashed from 1% to 0.5% as a result.
Meloni is also expected to address Trump's demand for NATO partners to increase military spending to 2% of gross domestic product. Italy's spending, at 1.49% of GDP, is among the lowest in Europe.
Experts cautioned, however, against raising expectations over any concrete progress.
"The best strategy has been to be very circumspect: Get there, get the meeting, get the photo opportunity," Piccoli said. "If she is able to come back, and give a sense of how Washington wants to frame future relations on trade, defense and Ukraine policy, that would be a huge win."
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