Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on November 20, 2024 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Tomas Cuesta | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, meeting new President Donald Trump there for the second time since his victory in the US election in November.
During the meeting in Florida, in a briefing with reporters, Trump described Meloni as a “fantastic woman…she has really taken Europe by storm.”
Meanwhile, Meloni posted on
She had previously spoken to the president-elect on the sidelines of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris at the beginning of December.
The mutual admiration means Meloni is well placed to position himself as Trump's key ally in Europe. Their transatlantic efforts come at a difficult time for fellow European heavyweights Germany and France, whose leaders are grappling with domestic challenges and both have faced criticism from Trump.
Meloni has several reasons to court the new administration, not the least of which is Trump's threat of tariffs on Europe. During his re-election campaign, the former president threatened to impose a 10% tariff on all goods imported into the United States – the European Union's largest export trading partner.
For Italy, the costs could be significant.
A study by European risk analysis firm Prometeia has calculated that 10% import tariffs could cost the Italian economy up to $7 billion, as the United States is the country's second-largest export market after Germany. Analysts at Caixabank put Italy's exposure to the US at around 4% of GDP, just behind Germany at 5%.
In addition to her meetings with Trump, Meloni also maintains relationships with Elon Musk, the Tesla boss who is expected to play a key role in Trump's new administration. In an interview with Italian news channel Corriere della Sera, she described him as a “great figure of our time”, adding that he was a “genius” and was falsely portrayed as a “monster”.
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