Italy and Trump in dispute: “Felt sorry for her”

TT

Published 14.01

 

Trump and Meloni side by side at the G7 summit in France earlier this week. Photo: Thibault Camus/AP/TT

Italy's foreign minister cancels his visit to the US. This comes after a statement from President Donald Trump angered Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

“Donald Trump's serious and offensive words against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend all of Italy,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani writes on X, where he announces that the visit is being canceled.

Meloni says he is stunned by Trump's comments to Italian La7. According to a transcript, Trump said that Meloni “wanted so much to have a picture” with him at this week's G7 summit and that he agreed to it because he “felt sorry for her.”

According to Meloni, this is not true.

“Neither I nor Italy ever beg,” she says in a video clip on X.

The previously good relationship between Trump and Meloni soured after she defended Pope Leo XIV against Trump’s criticism in April.