US President Donald Trump said that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is a good person and added that he likes her, but recalled that she wasn't there for the US when they needed her, ANSA and France Press reported, quoted by BTA.
In Ankara, where Trump participated in the NATO summit, in response to a journalist's question about the Italian Prime Minister, the American leader said: “She's a good person, I like her a lot, but I think she made a mistake. She just wasn't there for us when we needed her and I didn't like that“. He was referring to the Italian authorities' refusal to support the war in Iran.
For several months, Trump has criticized Meloni for this refusal. He even said at one point that she suffers from a lack of popularity in her homeland and that she is leading the country poorly, after previously praising her governance.
During the G7 summit in Evian in 2018, Meloni and Trump met several times on the sidelines of that forum and apparently ironed out their differences. But Trump later said that Meloni had begged him to take a picture with him and that he felt sorry for her. Meloni called this a false story and said that neither she nor Italy was begging anyone for anything. Italian politicians sided with Meloni, and the Italian foreign minister canceled a visit to the United States.
Representatives of Meloni's government and the Italian prime minister herself then said that bilateral relations remained stable, and Meloni chose not to respond to Trump's comments that directly concerned her.
On the eve of the NATO summit, the American leader posted a photo on his social network Truth Social in which Meloni was staring at him. The photo was accompanied by the text “A restraining order is needed“. Meloni's office did not make an official comment, and Defense Minister Guido Crosetto recalled that leaders come and go, but it is essential to preserve transatlantic relations.