London: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has accused US President Donald Trump of making up a story by claiming she had “begged” him for a photograph when they met at a leadership summit, sparking an angry dispute over his treatment of European friends.
Stung by his claim, Meloni took to social media to reject his account and declare that he was turning on American allies while treating his country’s enemies with “indulgence”.
The dispute triggered uproar in Italy and reverberated across Europe, with Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani branding Trump’s remarks “offensive” and cancelling a visit to the US where he was due to meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ties across the Atlantic are already frayed by Trump’s repeated complaints about European leaders for choosing not to support his war with Iran, but Meloni chose to go public with a blistering complaint about the president that is usually left unsaid.
Trump and Meloni were photographed at the G7 summit in France having what appeared to be a convivial discussion on a lounge on the sidelines of the main talks.
Speaking to Italian television after the summit, however, Trump claimed he was doing her a favour by allowing a photograph of their talks.
“She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her,” he said in the phone interview reported by Italian station La7 TV.
“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.”
The Italian station reported the phone interview with Trump using a dubbed Italian voice, without releasing the original audio, but Meloni responded swiftly online without questioning its accuracy.
“Donald Trump’s statements are completely made up,” she said in a video posted to X.
“I am frankly astonished. I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies: it is not the first time, moreover.
“I can only say it is disappointing that he does not show the same determination with the enemies of the West and of the United States, whose leaders he instead treats with far greater indulgence.
“There is one thing he should remember: neither I nor Italy ever beg.”
Once seen as conservative allies, Trump and Meloni have clashed in recent months over issues such as her decision to stop US forces using an air base in Sicily to support the attacks on Iran.
When Trump criticised Pope Leo as “weak on crime and terrible on foreign policy” in April, the Italian prime minister called the remarks unacceptable.
While Trump has scaled back support for Ukraine, Meloni has backed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and described the war as a security challenge for all of Europe.
Trump was greeted warmly in public this week when he met G7 leaders at Evian-les-Bains on the shores of Lake Geneva, and he shared dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles, but his administration continues to pepper major allies with complaints.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth blasted allies at a NATO meeting this week for their “shameful” decisions to prevent US forces using European bases in the Iran war, describing them as “free riders” who were not pulling their own weight on defence.
Hegseth announced a six-month review of the US force posture in Europe and said future US payments to NATO – known as annual dues – would be contingent on other countries meeting their defence spending targets.
“Where other allies do not spend with urgency, our dues contributions will go down,” he said.
“NATO will be a two-way street. It’s only common sense. America cannot care for or pay more for Europe’s defence than our allies do.”
Italian ministers came to Meloni’s defence on Friday afternoon in Italy (early on Saturday AEST) in a show of the general condemnation of the US president.
“Whoever attacks Giorgia Meloni attacks all of us,” said Transport Minister Matteo Salvini.
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio referenced the sacrifice of American troops in World War II in underlining the harm to US-Italy relations caused by Trump.
“The thousands of crosses marking the graves of American soldiers who died to free us from Nazi-Fascist dictatorship did not deserve such a painful blow to our fraternal ties,” Nordio said on X.
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David Crowe is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
