Trump ‘in no rush’ to end tariffs as he holds talks with Italy’s Meloni
Ms Meloni is the first European leader to have face-to-face talks with him since he announced and partially suspended 20% tariffs on European exports.
US President Donald Trump has said he is in “no rush” to reach any trade deals because of the revenues his tariffs are generating.
But he suggested while meeting with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni that it would be easy to find an agreement with the European Union and others.
Mr Trump played down the likelihood of an accelerated timeline to wrap up deals, saying any agreements would come “at a certain point”.
“We’re in no rush,” the president said, hinting that he has leverage because other countries want access to US consumers.
Mr Trump later said: “We have a lot of countries that want to make a deal. Frankly, they want to make deals more than I do.”
Ms Meloni’s meeting with Mr Trump was a test of her mettle as a bridge between the EU and the United States.
She was the first European leader to have face-to-face talks with Mr Trump since he announced and then partially suspended 20% tariffs on European exports.
Ms Meloni secured the meeting as Italy’s leader, but she also has, in a sense, been “knighted” to represent the EU at a critical juncture in the fast-evolving trade war that has stoked recession fears.
The Trump administration has belittled its European counterparts for not doing enough on national security while threatening their economies with tariffs, sparking deep uncertainty about the future of the transatlantic alliance.
The Italian premier sought to portray the United States and Europe as natural allies in Western civilisation and said it was important to “try to sit down and find solutions” to tensions over trade and national security.
“The goal for me is to make the West great again,” Ms Meloni told Mr Trump.
