ROME (AP) — A back-to-back round of U.S.-Italy talks on tariffs shifted to Rome on Friday as U.S. Vice President JD Vance met with Premier Giorgia Meloni and the White House suggested a broader U.S.-Europe summit was under consideration.
“I’ve been missing you,” Meloni jokingly told Vance as he entered the courtyard of Chigi Palace, the premier’s office.
They had seen each other just the previous day in the Oval Office, where U.S. President Donald Trump lavished praise on the Italian leader for her crackdown on migration but didn’t yield on tariff plans that have increased tension with the European Union and stoked fears of recession.
The White House and Meloni’s office on Friday issued a joint statement that said Trump would visit Italy “in the very near future.”
“There is also consideration to hold, on such occasion, a meeting between U.S. and Europe,” the statement said.
Meloni, a far-right leader who has positioned herself as a bridge between the Trump administration and Europe, said she hoped the second day of talks with Vance would serve to strengthen a longstanding friendship.
“We believe that Italy can be an extremely important partner in Europe and the Mediterranean for the United States of America,” she said. “There is a privileged relationship between us of which I am very proud.”
Meloni has tried to parlay her good ties with Trump to represent the EU at a critical juncture in the fast-evolving trade war. The U.S. has belittled its European counterparts for not doing enough on national security and threatened their economies, sparking deep uncertainty about the future of the trans-Atlantic alliance.
A bond market panic led Trump to partially pull back on his tariffs by pausing his 20% import taxes on the EU for 90 days and charge a baseline 10% instead. But with Meloni sitting by his side, Trump said Thursday he was in no rush to reach any trade deals.
Vance, for his part, reaffirmed the U.S.-Italy friendship and told Meloni that he would brief her on some “interesting” developments in Russia-Ukraine negotiations. “Big trade negotiations” would continue, he said.
Like Trump, Vance seemed dazzled by Meloni’s Italian language even though he didn’t understand what she was saying.
“Of course, she could have called me a jerk and I wouldn’t know, but it would be in the most beautiful language imaginable, so I wouldn’t even get offended,” he said.
Vance, a Catholic convert, was scheduled to attend Good Friday services in St. Peter’s Basilica later Friday and meet with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the White House said.
No meeting with Pope Francis was announced but officials didn’t rule it out. The 88-year-old pope has sharply cut back his work schedule as he recovers from a near-fatal case of double pneumonia, and his participation in the weekend services is uncertain.
Francis and Vance have tangled sharply over migration and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse.
Just days before he was hospitalized, Francis blasted the administration’s deportation plans, warning that they would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity. In a letter to U.S. bishops, Francis also apparently responded to Vance directly for having claimed that Catholic doctrine justified such policies.
Vance has acknowledged Francis’ criticism but has said he would continue to defend his views.
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