The president of the United States, Donald Trump, said he was “100%” sure that there will be an agreement on tariffs with the European Union, receiving this Thursday at the White House to the Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni. But he clarified that “he is not in a hurry” to reach any commercial agreement. “I do not think we have many problems to achieve an agreement with Europe and whoever, because we have something that everyone wants,” Trump said in the White House, where he received the media for a few minutes before starting lunch with Meloni, considered the head of government in the European Union (EU) closer to the New York tycoon, and the first leader of the block to visit him from the announcement of the new tariffs. An agreement with Brusselles past 90 days he gave as a truce on April 9 in the application of EU import tariff negotiations.giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump, this Thursday at the White House. Photo: Reuters The Head of Italian government also showed optimism. “I believe in the unity of the West and I think we simply have to talk and find ourselves in the best intermediate path to grow together, that’s why I am here,” he said at the beginning of his meeting at the White House. “If he did not think that (United States) is a reliable partner, he would not be here,” added Meloni. The president said the US Trump himself participated in a person on Wednesday in an encounter with a Japanese visiting delegation in Washington. He also said that he is not concerned that due to the commercial war that he has unleashed since he returned to power in January there may be traditional United States allies that approach China more, with whom Trump has sharpened the dispute activating tariffs of 145 % on imports of the Asian country. “No one can compete with us.” Zanjó.The president of the United States, Donald Trump, points to the head of government of Italy, upon receiving it in the White House. Photo: Efe Giorgia Meloni, a “bridge” between Europe and the US. Meloni’s meeting with Trump will test the temper of the Head of Italian government as a bridge between the European Union and the United States. She is the first European leader to hold face to face conversations with the president since she announced and then partially suspended the tariffs of 20% about European exports. Meloni meets Trump as the leader of Italy, but has also been “appointed”, in a sense, as a representative of the EU in a critical moment of the commercial war that has fueled the fears of a recession. He was in close contact with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, before the trip, and “the contact is … closely coordinated,” said a spokeswoman for the commission. The EU defends what he calls “the most important commercial relationship in the world”, with an annual trade that reaches 1.6 billion -millions of millions- of euros (1.8 billion dollars). The Trump government has said that its tariffs would allow trade negotiations that would exclude China, the dominant manufacturer of the world. But the US president argues that rivals and allies have taken advantage of the United States in trade. Commercial negotiations are under the authority of the European Union commission, which presses to reach a zero tariff agreement with Washington. In conversations with the EU, Trump government officials have not yet publicly shown signs of yielding in the president’s insistence that a 10% base tariff is charged to all foreign imports. TRUMP POUSPED for 90 days their initial tax of 20% to the products of the block so that negotiations could be carried out. The EU has already interacted with Trump administration officials in Washington. Maroš šefčovič, the European Commissioner for Commerce and Economic Security, said he met Monday with the US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and with the United States trade representative, Jamieson Greer.šefčovič later said in X that “an important joint effort of both parties will be required” to obtain zero tariffs and work in the commercial barriers not tariff.giorgia Meloni, the closest European leader ideologically to Donald Trump. Photo: AP The goals of the visit of the Italianalos Ladies of Meloni’s progress are more to obtain clarity about the objectives of the Republican President than to achieve direct concessions, experts say. Fabian Zuleeg, chief economist of the European Policy Center, a group of experts in Brussels, commented: “It is a very delicate mission. There is the entire commercial agenda, and although she is not officially negotiating, we know that Trump likes to have this type of informal dialogue, which in a sense is a negotiation. So she has a lot of work to do.” Aligned with Trump on issues such as stopping migration, promoting traditional values and skepticism towards multilateral institutions. But marked differences have emerged in the unwavering support from Meloni to Ukraine after the invasion of Russia, initiated in February 2022. The two leaders are expected to talk about the war and the role of Italy in a possible postwar reconstruction of Ukraine. Trump is expected to press Meloni to increase the expense of Italy in defense, which last year was well below the 2% target of the Gross Domestic Product for the countries of the NATO Military Alliance. The expense of Italy, with 1.49% of GDP, is among the lowest in Europe. Despite the differences on Ukraine and defense spending, some members of the United States government see Meloni as a vital bridge to Europe at a difficult time for transatlantic relations. A senior administration official, who informed the journalists before the visit under the condition of anonymity according to the rules established by the White House, said that Trump not only seeks to analyze with Meloni how “the Italian market can be opened, but also how they can help us with the rest of Europe. The abrupt changes in United States politics during the Republican regime have worn out the alliance between the United States and Europe. He denounced the tariffs, qualifying them as “wrong”, and warned that “dividing the West would be disastrous for all”, after the heated Trump dialogue in the White House with the president of Ukraine. Wolfango Piccoli, an analyst of the consultant Teneo based in London, said: “It has been very cautious. It is what we need when we have a counterpart that changes every day.” Little Parmigiano Reggiano and the Parma ham, and the Italian luxury fashion. All these are fundamental sectors for the Italian economy, and are mostly supported by small and medium producers who are key centrode -right voters. The meeting this Thursday in Washington occurs in a context of growing concerns about the global uncertainty generated by the growing tariff wars. Italy’s growth forecast for this year has already been reduced from 1% to 0.5% as a result. The Trump government has imposed tariffs on much of the world, arguing that other countries have taken advantage of the United States, as demonstrated by its commercial deficits. But with the 90 -day pause, the White House increased Trump tariffs over China to 145% while maintaining separate tariffs up to 25% over Canada, Mexico, cars, steel and aluminum. On Wednesday, Trump met with the main commercial negotiator of Japan, Ryosei Akazawa. In social networks, the Republican president summed up the meeting as a “great progress!” but did not offer specific details. China simultaneously seeks agreements that could deny Trump’s claims that his tariffs would finally generate more jobs in national factories and stronger growth. Experts warned that expectations about any concrete progress between the United States and the EU should not be raised.
