Sawt Falasteen - Trump talks up EU tariff deal as Italy's Meloni visits

Trump complimented the "fantastic" far-right leader, the first from Europe to visit the Republican since he slapped 20 percent tariffs on EU exports that he has since suspended for 90 days.

Casting herself as the only European who can de-escalate Trump's trade war with Europe, Meloni highlighted her conservative common ground with Trump.

"The goal for me is to make the West great again, and I think we can do it together," she told reporters in the Oval Office, highlighting shared views on immigration and "woke ideology."

Meloni said Trump had accepted an invitation to visit Rome in the "near future" and that he might also meet European leaders there.

The two leaders talked up the chances of a deal, one of a series that Trump says he will extract from major trading partners over his world-shaking tariffs.

"There will be a trade deal, 100 percent," Trump said during an earlier working lunch with Meloni, who said she was "sure" they could reach an agreement.

But in a sign of the potential challenges ahead, Trump said that he was in "no rush" and that Meloni had not changed his mind on his overall tariff policy.

"Everybody wants to make a deal -- and if they don't want to make a deal, we'll make the deal for them," Trump added.

Meloni was the only European leader to be invited to Trump's January 20 inauguration, and US officials said she was "eye-to-eye with the president on a lot of issues like immigration and Ukraine."

Trump said that Europe needed to "get a lot smarter" on immigration, returning to his administration's repeated attacks on the bloc on the subject.

- 'Aware of what I am defending' -

Russia's war in Ukraine however remained a touchy subject.

Meloni has been a staunch ally of Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia's invasion of the country in 2022, most recently calling Moscow's Palm Sunday attack on the city of Sumy "horrible and vile."

Trump however has stunned allies with a pivot towards Moscow and repeated attacks on Zelensky, whom he berated in an Oval Office meeting in February.

The US leader said with Meloni beside him that "I don't hold Zelensky responsible but I'm not exactly thrilled with the fact that that war started," adding that he was "not a big fan" of the Ukrainian.

Meloni had earlier acknowledged the uncertainty weighing on her trip as Europe reels from repeated blows from a country that has been the continent's defender for decades.

"Surely, I am aware of what I represent and I am aware of what I am defending," Meloni said Tuesday.

Italian newspapers reported that one of the goals of Meloni's visit was to pave the way for a meeting between Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Meloni's decision to personally intercede with Trump has caused some disquiet among EU allies, who are concerned that her visit could undermine bloc unity.

"If we start having bilateral discussions, obviously it will break the current dynamic," France's Industry Minister Marc Ferracci warned last week.

A European Commission spokeswoman said that while the EU alone could negotiate trade agreements, Meloni's "outreach is very welcome" and was coordinated with Brussels.

Following Thursday's meeting with Trump, Meloni will fly back to Rome on Friday in time to host US Vice President JD Vance, with whom she has a meeting planned.

Trump's threatened tariffs could have a major impact on Italy, the world's fourth-largest exporter, which sends around 10 percent of its exports to the United States.

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST