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Trump and Meloni talk up chances of US trade deal with Europe

Published

8 months ago

2025/04/18

Priyan

Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni talked up the chances of a trade deal between the US and Europe, as the Italian prime minister visited Washington.

“There will be a trade deal, 100%,” Trump said, “but it will be a fair deal”, while Meloni said she was “sure” they could reach an agreement, later adding that her aim was to “make the West great again”.

Meloni is the first European leader to visit Washington since Trump imposed, then paused, 20% tariffs on imports from the bloc.

The pair enjoy a good relationship and the Italian leader hopes to position herself as a bridge between the EU and the US amid fractured relations and mounting concerns about the global impact of Trump’s tariffs.

At a press conference on Thursday following their conversation, the leaders said they had discussed defence spending, immigration and tariffs.

The atmosphere in the Oval Office appeared relaxed and good-natured – similar to the reception UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer received during his visit to the White House in February.

However Meloni’s aides had described the visit as a “commercial peace mission” following Trump’s decision to impose a 10% baseline tariff on almost all foreign imports to the US.

He has strongly criticised the European Union on trade, claiming it was “formed to screw the United States”. A 20% “retaliatory” tariff on the EU has been temporarily suspended until July.

Meloni previously called the tariffs “absolutely wrong” and said they would end up damaging the EU “as much as the US”.

While she didn’t score any tangible wins on tariffs during the meeting, she did convince Trump to accept an invitation to visit Rome, which she said would be an occasion for him to meet other European leaders.

Given the fraught relations between the EU and the US, Meloni will likely chalk that up as a significant win, particularly if Trump agrees to meet the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, during the visit.

Meloni will return to Europe with stronger credentials as the so-called “Trump whisperer”, something that will be reinforced when she meets US Vice President JD Vance in Rome tomorrow.

The Italian leader was careful to praise Trump and align herself with the US president’s viewpoints.

In her statement following the meeting, she criticised “woke ideology” and championed the “war against illegal migration”.

“The goal for me is to make the West great again, and I think we can do it together,” she added.

She also seized the opportunity to tout the work of her own government. “I’m proud of sitting here as prime minister of an Italy that today has a very good situation – a stable country, a reliable country,” Meloni said.

She noted that her government had brought inflation down and improved employment, before gesturing towards Trump and adding with a broad smile: “Forgive me if I promote my country, but you’re a businessman and you understand me”. Trump grinned back.

Meloni basked in the praise lavished on her by Trump – from compliments about her work as prime minister to gushing about her Italian sounding “beautiful”.

The US president praised Meloni for taking a tough stance on immigration and said he wished more people were like her. Meloni said that change was happening, thanks to the example set by Italy, referring to yesterday’s EU announcement on safe countries.

It was only occasionally that she showed a tinge of irritation when asked about Italy’s low defence spending.

Meloni said that she expects Italy to announce at the next Nato meeting in June that her country would be able to meet the alliance’s requirement that each member nation spends 2% of GDP on defence.

Defence spending has been a key sticking point for Trump, with the US leader repeatedly demanding that Nato allies increase spending.

Italy is one of eight countries that currently does not meet the 2% threshold, spending 1.49% on defence.

Italian opposition leader Carlo Calenda said there had been “two very positive outcomes” from the visit: that Meloni “stayed on track on Ukraine and managed to convince Trump to meet EU figures in Italy”.

Calenda said Meloni had “gained credibility as a bridge between the US and the EU” .

[BBC]

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Latest News

Cabinet approves recruitment of 2,284 to government service

Published

1 hour ago

2025/12/11

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the proposal submitted by the Prime Minister to recruit 2,284 to the government service as per the recommendations of the ‘Committee appointed to review the recruitment process of the Government Service at its meeting held on 14.11.2025.

1. Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education 196

2. Ministry of Health and Mass Media 480

3. Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and
Local Governments 04

4. Ministry of Finance, Policy Planning and Economic
Development 19

5. Ministry of Transport, Highways and Urban Development 778

6. Ministry of Justice and National Integration 222

7. Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development 107

8. Ministry of Defense 73

9. Ministry of Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources 20

10. Ministry of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs 21

11. Ministry of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development 36

12. Ministry of Buddha Shasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs
04
13. Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure
Facilities 02

14. Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation 74

15. Western Provincial Council 230

16. Uva Provincial Council 08

17. North Western Provincial Council 08

18. Finance Commission 02

Latest News

Cabinet green light to obtain a grant from the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund for post – disaster relief and rehabilitation activities

Published

1 hour ago

2025/12/11

Priyan

On a request made by the government of Sri Lanka, the Asian Development Bank has given its concurrence to provide a grant of United States dollars 3 million under Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund.

It is expected to supply materials required for providing essential life security services for the communities affected, from the said grant.

Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the proposal submitted by the President as the Minister of Finance, Plan Implementation and Economic Development to enter into the relevant agreements with the Asian Development Bank to obtain the said grant.

Business

Cabinet approves establishment of two 50 MW wind power stations in Mullikulum, Mannar region

Published

2 hours ago

2025/12/11

Priyan

Adhering to the broad plan of the Government to reach the objective of accomplishing 70% of the country’s electricity supply from renewable energy sources by the year 2030, the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted on 10.02.2025 to invite requests for resolutions from interested developers of the private sector in order to implement the Mullikulum Wind Power – 100 Mega Watts (two (02) wind power stations of
50 Mega Watts each) on the basis of construction, ownership and execution with a monitoring period of 20 years.

Accordingly, requests for proposals have been called to implement the relevant project by adhering to the international competitive bidding methodology, and seven (7) prospective project proposals were submitted.

Evaluating the said proposals, based on the recommendations submitted by the negotiation committee appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Power to award the contracts of establishing the two (02) 50 Mega Watts Wind
Power Stations to Consortium of Vidullanka PLC & David Pieris Motor Company (Lanka) Limited and WindForce PLC.