'Not anti-American, wasn't kneeling': Giorgia Meloni's latest message after Trump row

Seeking to calm an unusually public row with US President Donald Trump, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Monday that she was neither anti-American nor “kneeling”, while making a case for unity within the West. Signalling a truce, Meloni said she believed the West was stronger when united and that Italy was stronger within a united West.

Speaking to Italian news agency Adnkronos about Italy-US relations, Meloni said: "I am not anti-American today; I was not kneeling yesterday. I am a person who believes that the West is stronger united, who believes that Italy is stronger in a united West, and has worked and continues to work for this. After that, however, solid relationships are also based on frankness, and I am a frank person."

Her remarks came after a bitter exchange with Trump that also led Italian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani to cancel a planned visit to Miami for a business forum earlier this month.

Announcing the cancellation, Tajani wrote on X: "The serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend all of Italy. For this reason, I have decided to cancel my visit to the United States scheduled for the next 21 and 22 June." The controversy followed multiple interactions between Trump and Meloni at the June 2026 G7 summit in France.

After the summit, in a phone interview with Italian broadcaster La7, Trump said that Meloni "begged me to take a photo with her. She wanted a photo with me so badly. I might not have done it, but I felt sorry for her." He also asked the correspondent: “How is your Prime Minister? How is she?”

When asked to comment further on his conversation with Meloni on the sidelines of the Evian summit, Trump said, “She's probably happy I spoke to her. I wasn't obliged to speak to her.” In the same conversation, Trump criticised Europeans, saying they got everything wrong on energy and immigration and adding that if they did not solve those problems, Europe would never be the same. He described immigration and energy as a “disaster.”

Later, in a Truth Social post, Trump claimed Meloni had asked "over and over" for photographs throughout the summit and suggested she was trying to improve ties with Washington for domestic political reasons. "Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again to get her 'numbers up.' No thanks!!!" Trump wrote. He also suggested that Meloni was doing “poorly in Italy.”

Meloni rejected Trump’s claims and described them as entirely “made up”. She accused the US president of launching "constant, unprovoked... senseless" attacks and said her standing with Italian voters had nothing to do with her relationship with Trump.

Meloni also said, "In any case, my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours." Later, speaking at an event in Rome, she signalled that she wanted to move beyond the dispute, saying: "I don't intend to keep fuelling this dispute."