Trump anger over Meloni remarks prompts Italy to cancel U.S. visit

Donald Trump’s attack on Giorgia Meloni has spilled from personal insult into an early stress test of U.S.-Italy relations, forcing Rome to cancel a planned envoy visit and raising new questions about coordination on NATO, trade, Ukraine and migration. The rupture came after Trump, in an interview with Italian broadcaster La7 after the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, said Meloni had “begged” him for a photo and that he had agreed only because he “felt sorry for her.”

Meloni fired back on Friday, saying she was “frankly stunned” by the remarks and calling them “made up.” She added, “Neither I nor Italy ever beg.” Her response underscored how quickly a relationship once presented as unusually close has become politically sensitive, especially as Meloni tries to keep Washington and European capitals aligned on issues where Italy has real stakes, from support for Ukraine to pressure on migration routes across the Mediterranean.

Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, then canceled a planned U.S. visit scheduled for June 21 and 22, and the Foreign Ministry also scrapped a business and scientific forum he had been due to attend in Miami, Florida. Tajani said Trump’s words were “grave and offensive” and said they offended “the whole of Italy.” Justice Minister Carlo Nordio called the comments a “painful injury” to Italy-U.S. ties, while Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said the jokes did not benefit anyone.

Trump kept pressing the issue on Truth Social, saying Meloni had repeatedly sought a photo and attacking Italy over the Iran war, including a claim that Rome had not helped the United States by refusing the use of Italian runways or airstrips. The back-and-forth has landed at a delicate moment for Meloni, who had earlier described the summit atmosphere as “very positive” and said there was “no friction” with Trump.

That optimism now looks fragile. Meloni has tried to cast herself as a bridge between Europe and the Trump administration, and she was the only European leader to attend Trump’s second inauguration. But the relationship has been strained in recent months by the Middle East war, tariffs on Europe and earlier tensions after she defended Pope Leo XIV from Trump’s criticism of the pontiff’s anti-war views. The canceled visit suggests the real issue is not one sharp exchange, but whether Meloni can preserve strategic cooperation while containing a diplomatic break that could reverberate far beyond one photo.