ITALY PERSPECTIVE

Rome, July 8, 2026. Rome is quietly absorbing the latest salvo from Donald Trump, who once again called out Italy at the NATO summit in Ankara, while relying on the solidity of institutional transatlantic ties rather than a public response.

The American president, who arrived in Turkey for the summit of the 32-nation Alliance, reiterated his grievances against several European allies. "Italy, Germany, France, as well as the United Kingdom, refused" to help him with Iran, he said on the sidelines of a bilateral meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding: "We invest in NATO, allies should be ready to support us." He specified that he had wanted to "test" his partners on the Iranian issue.

Regarding Giorgia Meloni personally, the tone remains ambivalent. "I like her, she's a good person, but she wasn't there for us," Trump said, criticizing her refusal to get involved in the Strait of Hormuz. The statement comes three days after the publication on Truth Social of a photomontage depicting her as an admirer under the caption "A restraining order is necessary" - an allusion to language used against harassers, perceived in Italy as a gratuitous provocation.

In response to this outburst, the Italian government has chosen restraint. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto summed up the official line on Sky TG24: "People come and go, but relations between states must endure." Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani assured that transatlantic relations "go far beyond individual comments." Meloni has not publicly reacted to this new episode, after having judged Trump's repeated attacks in June as "nonsensical" and recalled that "being his friend certainly hasn't helped me" in the polls.

According to sources in the American administration cited by the Italian press, a part of the White House is discreetly seeking to "rebuild" ties with Rome, considering assigning Italy and Turkey a stabilizing role in Libya - a sign that Washington does not want to break with a strategic ally, despite the hardline stance taken by the MAGA wing close to Steve Bannon, which is convinced that the relationship is over.