Italian Prime Minister Meloni meets Trump at his resort in Florida. From Reuters
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni flew to Florida on Saturday to meet with President-elect Donald Trump, as Europe’s top leader sought to mend ties with Trump ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 20 strengthen.
Members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort greeted Meloni with applause after an introduction by the president-elect, according to videos shared by reporters and others on social media.
Her trip comes days before she meets US President Joe Biden during a visit to Rome from Thursday to January 12. Trump defeated Biden in the November election and is preparing to return to the White House.
Although details of their meeting were not disclosed, Meloni had planned to speak with Trump about Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade issues, the Middle East and the plight of an Italian journalist imprisoned in Tehran, according to Italian media reports.
Meloni’s office declined to comment on the reports.
Because of her conservative stance and the stability of the right-wing coalition she leads in Italy, she is seen as a potentially strong partner for Trump. She has also developed a close relationship with billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help him win the election.
“This is very exciting. I’m here with an amazing woman, the prime minister of Italy,” Trump told the crowd at Mar-a-Lago, according to a report by Media Pool. “It has really taken Europe by storm.”
Trump and Meloni then sat down to screen a documentary that questioned the criminal investigation and legal scrutiny of John Eastman, a former Trump lawyer who played a central role in Trump’s unsuccessful effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat to make amends.
One of Meloni’s biggest challenges is the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala on December 19 in Iran.
Sala was arrested three days after the arrest of Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman, at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a U.S. warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in a 2023 attack that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan were killed. Iran has denied involvement in the attack.
On Friday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Italian ambassador over Abedini’s detention, Iranian state media reported.
Meloni was the latest of a handful of foreign leaders to visit Trump in Florida since the Nov. 5 election. He met with Argentine President Javier Milei, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
