Trump on Meloni: from "she begged me" to "I've always liked her"

Four months earlier he had told Italian television that Meloni begged him for a photo. Here is what each side said in between, in order, and what changed on Friday.

Before the war: the closest ally in Europe

For most of 2025 Meloni was described as the European leader closest to Trump. In January 2025 she flew to his Florida club at Mar-a-Lago, and he called her "a fantastic woman". She attended his inauguration a few days later.

March: the base in Sicily

The war with Iran began at the end of February 2026. On 31 March Italy refused a U.S. military flight from Sigonella, an Italian air base in Sicily that also hosts the U.S. Navy. According to the Italian defence ministry, the request had not gone through the required approval channels and fell outside the routine operations covered by agreements between Rome and Washington.

April: the Pope

On 13 April Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, for speaking out against the war. Meloni's office issued a statement: "I find President Trump's words towards the Holy Father unacceptable. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for him to call for peace and to condemn every form of war."

The next day Trump answered in an interview with Corriere della Sera, Italy's largest newspaper. "I'm shocked by her. I thought she had courage, I was wrong," he said, adding that she "thinks America should do the work for her".

June: the photo

The G7 summit, the yearly meeting of seven large Western economies, was held in Évian, France, in mid June. On 19 June, in a phone call broadcast by the Italian channel La7, Trump said Meloni had begged him for a photo together and that he agreed because he felt sorry for her.

Meloni answered the same day in a video on her Instagram account. "Donald Trump's statements are totally made up. I am frankly appalled," she said. She added that she was sorry he did not show "the same determination" with the enemies of the West, and ended: "Italy and I never beg."

Foreign minister Antonio Tajani cancelled a planned trip to the United States and called the remarks serious and offensive to the whole country. Trump told NBC that Meloni had been a big fan of his, but that she "wasn't there" on the Strait of Hormuz, the sea route Iran had blocked.

July: "a nice person"

On 7 July Trump returned to the subject. "She refused to get involved, so it soured my relationship with her a little bit. But I like her. I think she's a nice person, actually," he said. Tajani said Rome had "decided to stop responding" to the president's remarks.

October: the diesel deal

By the autumn, fuel prices had become a political problem on both sides of the Atlantic. Diesel in Europe cost €2.24 a litre, against €1.59 before the war. In the United States it reached $6.50 a gallon, a month before the midterm elections of 3 November.

Trump asked Europe to put its stocks on the market. After a call with him, French president Emmanuel Macron organised a video call of G7 leaders, and on Friday 2 October the group, Italy included, agreed to release up to 100 million barrels of oil and diesel over four months, through the International Energy Agency, with a large share of diesel in the first 20 days. Members also pledged not to restrict energy exports to each other.

"I asked for it," Trump said on the White House lawn the same afternoon. "Europe has a lot of diesel, and they're going to be making a major world contribution." A few minutes later came the question about Meloni.

What it means, and what we don't know

Italian newspapers read Friday's words as a truce. La Repubblica wrote that Trump had at least suggested peace was made with Meloni and with Europe, after the G7 met Washington's request. Trump himself did not link the two answers.

As of Saturday afternoon, Meloni's office had not commented. The issue behind the clashes, Italy's position on the war with Iran, has not changed publicly.

Is it a real truce? Tell us on Instagram, @theitalydesk.