The US president says prospect of a trade deal with the EU is ‘100 percent’, praising the Italian prime minister as ‘fantastic’.US President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have expressed optimism about a possible United States-European Union tariffs deal as the two leaders met at the White House, as economic uncertainly roils the market.
Meloni has cast herself as the only European who can de-escalate Trump’s trade war, and she has highlighted their conservative common ground, declaring that she wants to “make the West great again.”
“There will be a trade deal, 100 percent,” Trump declared on Thursday, while Meloni said she was “sure” they could reach a deal.
The two leaders struck a warm tone during a working lunch and a meeting in the Oval Office, with Trump hailing the 48-year-old Italian leader as “fantastic”.
‘Banking on Meloni’
Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from the White House, said European leaders “are banking on Meloni” to make the bloc’s message to Trump “sound a little bit better”.
Meloni is the first European leader to visit the Republican since he slapped 20 percent tariffs on EU exports, which he has since suspended for 90 days. Advertisement
The Italian leader said Trump had accepted an invitation to visit Rome in the “near future” and that he might also meet European leaders there.
“Even if we have some problems between the two shores of the Atlantic, it is the time that we try to sit down and find solutions,” she said.
Meloni highlighted their shared views on immigration …
