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Giorgia Meloni dined with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago golf club on Saturday, as the Italian prime minister seeks to strengthen ties with the incoming US president ahead of his swearing-in.
The Italian leader’s unannounced visit comes just days before outgoing US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Rome and the Vatican, his last overseas trip before leaving office.
“This is very exciting. I’m here with a wonderful woman, the prime minister of Italy,” Trump told the audience at Mar-a-Lago. “She really took Europe and the rest of the world by storm. Tonight we’re just going to have dinner.”
Meloni has not commented publicly and her office has not announced anything about her trip.
She has been an avid fan of President Trump since his first term when he was still a fringe opposition figure, and has recently become close with Elon Musk, Trump’s advisor and the world’s richest man. We are building great friendships.
Also in attendance at Mar-a-Lago was Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who called Meloni a “great ally and strong leader.”
Members of Mr. Meloni’s right-wing Brotherhood of Italy party hope the ideological affinity between the two leaders will help him emerge as one of Mr. Trump’s key European interlocutors. The president-elect expressed enthusiasm for the Italian leader, whom he met in Paris last month during the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Meloni was one of the few foreign leaders to travel to Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump before his inauguration on Jan. 20 after his reelection. Trump’s right-wing allies Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Javier Milei of Argentina have both visited. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also made an emergency visit after President Trump threatened to impose a 25% import tariff on Canada.
Meloni’s visit comes as he faces his toughest diplomatic challenge since taking office, amid domestic political backlash over the arrest in Iran of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala.
Sarah, who was in Iran on a valid journalist visa, was an Iranian engineer and businessman wanted in the United States for allegedly exporting the drone technology used to kill three American soldiers in Jordan a year ago. He was detained a few days after Italy arrested his family.
The Italian journalist made a rare call home and told her family that she was being held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, sleeping on the floor with a light on at all times.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that Salah was arrested on charges of “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic”, without providing further details.
However, the Iranian embassy in Rome has clearly linked Salah’s detention to Italy’s December 16 arrest of engineer Mohammad Abedini, whose early release Tehran had requested.
Mr. Abedini is currently in a Milan prison and is being asked by the United States to stand trial on various criminal charges for allegedly “illicitly exporting sophisticated electronic components” from the United States to Iran, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. There is.
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Tehran warned Rome that bilateral relations would be harmed if its citizens were extradited to the United States. Abedini is scheduled to appear in an Italian court on January 15, where his lawyers will petition to have him released from prison and placed under house arrest.
The U.S. Justice Department warned Rome against such measures, citing past precedent in which suspects sought by the U.S. for criminal trials successfully escaped house arrest in Italy.
The Sala affair is not the only issue likely to test relations between Rome and Washington when President Trump returns to the White House later this month.
Businesses fear Italy’s economy will be hit hard if President Trump follows through on his promise to impose high tariffs on all imports. Rome also falls far short of NATO’s pledge to spend 2% of GDP on defense, a major focus for President Trump, who wants Europe to pay more for its own security.
Additional reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi in Rome
