The Italian premier called Trump’s remarks “completely fabricated” after he told Italian television she had begged him for a photograph at the Evian summit. Foreign Minister Tajani has cancelled a planned trip to Washington, and rare cross-party solidarity has united Italy’s fractious political class. “Italy and I do not beg,” was Meloni’s parting riposte.
The row erupted on Friday after US President Donald Trump gave a brief interview to La7 television’s Aria che Tira programme, broadcast that morning. Though the correspondent had opened by asking about Ukraine, Trump steered immediately to the Italian prime minister.
“She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her,” Trump said. “She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so badly — I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her.”
Video footage from the G7, held in Evian-les-Bains on 15–17 June, appeared to tell a different story — showing the two leaders in an extended, apparently comfortable one-on-one conversation while seated together on a sofa.
Meloni’s Response – “I do not beg”
The Italian prime minister was swift and direct in her rebuttal. In a video posted to Instagram on Friday, she described Trump’s claims as “completely fabricated” and said she was “frankly stunned” by them.
“Some things deserve an immediate response,” she said. “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way towards his allies. It’s not the first time it’s happened. I can only say it’s unfortunate he doesn’t show the same determination towards the West’s enemies.”
She closed with the line, “Italy and I do not beg.”
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani escalated the response by abruptly cancelling a visit to the United States scheduled for 21–22 June, during which he had been due to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at an Italy-US business forum in Miami.
“President Trump’s serious and offensive words towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend all of Italy,” Tajani wrote on X. Speaking later at an event at the foreign ministry in Rome, he was blunter still: “No one is allowed to offend Italy the way the US did.”
Government colleagues rally round
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, a senior figure in Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party and a longstanding ally of the premier, said he could not imagine Meloni asking anyone for a photograph “not even under threat.” But he also acknowledged the broader political strain that had preceded the incident.
“I can, however, imagine how difficult it must have been for her to set aside what Trump had said weeks ago, in the interests of Italy, Europe and the West,” Crosetto said. He was referring to Trump’s earlier criticism of Rome over Italy’s refusal to allow the US to use a Sicilian air base during military operations against Iran. “Remarks of this kind do no one any good: neither the US, nor Italy, nor the alliance.”
Opposition also offended by Trump’s remarks
In a striking display of national unity, opposition parties joined the government in condemning Trump’s remarks.
Senator Filippo Sensi of the centre-left Democratic Party expressed solidarity with the premier. “No one is allowed to adopt such an arrogant tone toward the person leading the Italian government,” he wrote on X. “I have nothing in common with Meloni, who boasted about being a bridge between Trump’s America and the EU. But no one can treat Italy this way.”
Carlo Calenda, leader of the centrist Azione party, said flatly that he did not believe Meloni had begged for anything, calling Trump “a serial liar and a ridiculous bully” whose insults “must be rejected as they undermine the nation’s honour.”
Former prime minister and 5-Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte was the most pointed. “Italy doesn’t deserve to find itself so blatantly humiliated,” he wrote, describing his reaction as that of “an Italian citizen first and foremost, not a politician.” He argued the episode carried a political lesson: “Signing up to everything we’re asked to do, chasing photos and book prefaces, can never prevail over our national interest.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, speaking at the end of the G7 summit, said he had expressed his “full solidarity” with Meloni. “It’s neither political nor personal. In fact, I don’t even know how to describe it.”
