The long-distance clash between Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni is making the rounds in the international media, from the British to the Indian press. At the origin, the US president’s statements on Italian television La7, according to which the prime minister had “begged” him to be photographed with her at the G7: words branded by Meloni as “completely invented”. In the background, the cooling of a relationship once presented as a model of transatlantic harmony.
From the words on La7 to Tajani’s step back
In the interview with La7, Trump said that Meloni would have “begged” him for a photo on the sidelines of the summit. The Prime Minister responded with a video on social media, speaking of “totally invented” statements and reiterating that “Italy never begs”. In protest, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani canceled a trip to the United States scheduled for the weekend.
The British press: BBC and Guardian
There BBC underlines Meloni’s “evident shock” when faced with Trump’s words, reading it as the latest in a series of episodes that have weakened a relationship born as a close political understanding. The Guardian summarizes the story as “a new transatlantic drama”.
El País and CNN: the relationship is cooling
For El País the public confrontation would have been so heated as to push the Italian Foreign Minister to cancel the overseas trip scheduled for the weekend; the Spanish newspaper reads there as confirmation of the cooling of a bond that until recently was presented as a model of “transatlantic political affinity”. There CNN speaks of “a new diplomatic incident” and of a further rift between Washington and its European allies, after the signs of détente that emerged at the G7 in France.
The echo in the Indian media
The story – with the clash between the two leaders and Tajani’s renunciation of the American mission – also reached the Asian press. THE’Indian Express defines the rift between Meloni and Trump as “serious”, recalling that the prime minister had been among the few leaders present at the inauguration of the US president in 2025 and that relations would have deteriorated this year, after Meloni’s criticism of Trump’s remarks on Pope Leo.