The American president Donald Trump said on Thursday that “we are in no rush” to reach any trade agreement due to the profits generated by his tariffs, but hinted in his meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that it would be easy to achieve an agreement with the European Union and other nations.
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Trump dismissed the likelihood of speeding up the schedule by saying that any agreement would happen “at some point.”
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The president of the United States also hinted that he has an advantage because other countries want access to American consumers. "We have many countries that want to make a deal. Frankly, they want to make deals more than I do," Trump reiterated.
Last week he said something similar, but in a vulgar way, and less than 24 hours later he backtracked on applying a 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs.
Meloni is an admirer of Trump
Meloni’s meeting with Trump was a testament to her leadership as a bridge between the European Union and the United States. She was the first European leader to hold face-to-face talks with the president since he announced and then partially suspended the 20% tariffs on European exports.
The far-right Meloni attended the meeting as the leader of Italy, but has also been “appointed”, in a way, as a representative of the EU at a critical moment in the trade war that has fueled fears of a recession. The Trump administration has belittled its European counterparts for not doing enough in national security while threatening their economies with tariffs, creating deep uncertainty about the future of the transatlantic alliance.
Meloni sought to portray the United States and Europe as natural allies in Western civilization and stated that it was important to “try to sit down and find a solution” to tensions over trade and national security.
"“My goal is to make the West great again,” said Meloni to Trump.
As the leader of a far-right party, Meloni is ideologically aligned with Trump on issues such as halting migration, promoting traditional values, and skepticism towards multilateral institutions. However, marked differences have emerged regarding Meloni’s unwavering support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion that began in February 2022.
She was the only European leader to attend Trump’s inauguration ceremony on January 20 and has responded with moderation as the abrupt changes in US policy during the Republican regime have strained the alliance between the United States and Europe. Meloni denounced the tariffs, calling them “wrong,” and warned that “dividing the West would be disastrous for everyone,” following Trump’s heated dialogue at the White House with the President of Ukraine.
Negotiations between the US and the EU are progressing
The EU has already interacted with officials from the Trump administration in Washington. Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, said he met on Monday with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Šefčovič later said in X that “a significant joint effort from both parties will be required” to achieve zero tariffs and work on non-tariff trade barriers, while the Trump team specifically objected to Europe’s use of value-added taxes.