Italy to join U.S.-led AI supply chain pact after Trump rift

Italy will join the U.S.-led Pax Silica pact on AI supply chains on Friday, pressing ahead even as Giorgia Meloni’s government remains in a public rift with Donald Trump. The move keeps Rome inside a coalition built around the minerals, chips and energy systems that power artificial intelligence.

Armando Varricchio said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will sign a memorandum of understanding at the first available opportunity. The agreement was expected in Miami, where a business forum was canceled after Trump criticized Meloni over Italy’s position on the Iran war. Varricchio said Italy’s participation gave both sides a political basis to resume cooperation from where they had left off.

Pax Silica is Washington’s flagship effort on AI and supply chain security. The initiative spans energy, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, logistics, network infrastructure, software platforms and frontier foundation models. A December 11, 2025 State Department fact sheet listed Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Australia among the inaugural participants, with guest contributions from Taiwan, the European Union, Canada and the OECD.

Italy’s accession adds another major European economy to a project that has expanded quickly from an initial seven-country launch to 18 signatories, including the European Union. The European Commission joined on Thursday and the Netherlands signed earlier in the week. The United States planned to allocate $250 million in foreign assistance funds to support critical minerals extraction, processing and production facilities tied to semiconductor supply-chain security.

Varricchio said the signing would take place in Italy in the coming weeks, with Undersecretary of State Jacob Helberg present.