Donald Trump has said there will “100 per cent” be a trade deal between the US and the European Union following a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House.
The US President boasted that he will have “little problem” securing an agreement between the US and the bloc amid tensions that have strained relations between Brussels and Washington.
The 27-nation EU faces 25% import tariffs on steel and aluminum and cars, and broader tariffs on almost all other goods under Trump's policy to hit countries he claims impose high barriers to US imports.
"We're going to have very little problem making a deal with Europe or anybody else, because we have something that everybody wants," Trump told reporters.
Meloni said she would invite Trump to visit Italy. She also said she expected Italy would announce at the next NATO meeting in June that her country would be able to reach the alliance requirement that each member nation spend 2% of GDP on defense spending.
"We have a very good relationship together and as countries," Trump said.
During a press conference, Meloni also flattered the US leader, saying the “goal for me is to make the West great again” in an echo of the US leader’s campaign slogan.
Trump also praised his Italian counterpart. “She has taken Europe by storm,” he said.
But the President played down any suggestion that trade deals with other countries would be struck quickly, saying the agreements would come “at a certain point”.
He later said: “We have a lot of countries that want to make a deal. Frankly, they want to make deals more than I do.”
Meloni’s visit follows attempts by senior EU officials to begin negotiations with the Trump administration over a trading relationship worth some $1.8 trillion.
Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commissioner for trade and economic security, said he met on Monday with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Šefčovič said afterward on X that it would “require a significant joint effort on both sides” to get to zero tariffs and work on non-tariff trade barriers, with Trump’s team specifically objecting to Europe’s use of value added taxes.
Trump spooked global markets earlier this month when he announced a series of “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries, on a day he dubbed “Liberation Day”.
The President has consistently spoken of his desire to rebalance the global trade order, claiming that the US has been “ripped off” by other countries.
