Trump-Meloni tango could boost business

Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni and American President Donald Trump have struck a friendship, each expressing admiration for the other.

Meloni said of Trump: “Trump has the ability to balance diplomacy and deterrence.” And Trump said about her: “This is very exciting. I’m here with a fantastic woman. She’s really taken Europe by storm.”

These statements came after their meeting at Trump’s home in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, earlier this month. Speculation is rife that Trump has found in Meloni a friend in Europe with whom he can do business. She represents the far-right in Italy, and she has won a decisive election to become prime minister of the country.

Trump can be placed at the right and far-right end of the political spectrum. But Trump is not a right-wing ideologue. He is interested only in business. Meloni has already placed herself and Italy as representative of the European Union to deal with the United States. She said after Trump’s inaugural, “Italy will always be committed to consolidating the dialogue between the United States and Europe, as an essential pillar for the stability and growth of our communities.”

Experts feel that Meloni is cosying up to Trump because Italy is in a vulnerable position in relation to Trump’s America First policy. Italy has a trade surplus with the United States, and Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on countries which have an edge over the US in bilateral trade, pose a threat to Italy’s economic advantage.

It is said that she is striking a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlight low-orbit satellite network as a way to appease American economic interests. But critics are not convinced that it will be enough to pacify Trump’s aggressive stance. Italy also faces the other problem of spending less on the defence budget as a member of NATO.

Members of NATO are trying to push their defence spend up to 2 per cent of their GDP while it hovers at 1.5 per cent now. Trump insists that Europe’s NATO members should increase their defence spend up to 5 per cent of the GDP.

Director of the Italian international affairs think-tank, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Nathali Tocci said, “Thinking she’s going to do things in Europe’s interest and be the Trump whisperer is totally naïve.”

Arturo Varvelli, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Rome, said, “The Italian economy is so tied to the European economy that thinking tariffs could only penalise France and Germany without hurting us is an illusion.”

Whatever may be the outcome of the new-found friendship between Trump and Meloni, the Italian prime minister has emerged the lone European star in the Trump firmament. The expectation is that like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan had forged a special relationship between Britain and America because of their shared belief in market economics, Meloni and Trump will strike a similar special relationship because both come from the rightist end of the political spectrum.

This may not be idle speculation. There could certainly a grain of truth in the expectation. But as yet there is nothing to show that the Meloni and Trump friendship will have an impact on America-Europe relations. But Meloni is ambitious to play a greater role beyond Italy, and her rapport with Trump could be a way for her to break out on the global stage as an important leader.

Though she is moving to the pragmatic centre in her politics and has moved away to a great extent from the far-right political roots, critics feel that she is tied to her ideology, and she cannot cut herself off from it. But Meloni is the leader to watch out for in the context of Europe-America relations.