Giorgia Meloni has criticised Brussels for responding with retaliatory tariffs to US levies and warned that the tit-for-tat risks fuelling inflation in the EU.
The Italian prime minister, who is meeting fellow EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on Thursday, urged the European Commission to open urgent negotiations with the Trump administration to avert the damaging consequences of a trade war.
“It is not wise to fall into the temptation of reprisals that become a vicious circle in which everyone loses,” she told the Italian parliament on Tuesday. “We must continue to work concretely and pragmatically to find possible common ground and avoid a trade war that would benefit neither the US nor Europe.”