Italy PM Meloni is 'Best Person' to Represent EU at White House: Rachel Rizzo

Rachel Rizzo from the Atlantic Council's Europe Center says Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni can serve as a key bridge between President Trump and the European Union.

President Donald Trump said during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that he expects to reach a trade deal with the European Union, but indicated he is in no hurry to finalize an agreement to reduce tariffs.

“There’ll be a trade deal,” Trump said Thursday, adding “I fully expect it, but it’ll be a fair deal.”

The president offered no time line for when he expected the first of the agreements to be finalized with trading partners seeking to avoid high tariffs, saying only that they would happen “at a certain point” and insisting that other nations would need to make concessions.

“We’re in no rush,” Trump added. “We are going to have very little problem making a deal with Europe or anyone else.”

Meloni thanked Trump for accepting an invitation to visit Italy “in the near future” and she expressed hope he would meet with EU officials to discuss trade. Securing face-to-face negotiations with the bloc would allow European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen an opportunity to speak with Trump for the first time, and would help cement Meloni’s role as a conduit between Europe and the US.

At the start of their meeting, Meloni had expressed optimism about striking a trade deal, but emphasized that Trump would need to engage with other European leaders saying, “I cannot do this deal in the name of the European Union.”

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