ROME — Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced Tuesday that the country intends to stop reacting to provocative statements made by U.S. President Donald Trump, as NATO leaders gathered for a summit in Turkey.
The tension between the two governments flared last month when Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni publicly disputed a claim Trump made to an Italian television channel. Trump had said Meloni had “begged” him for a photo together at a G7 summit held in France — a claim Meloni flatly denied, calling it fabricated.
As both leaders prepared to attend the NATO summit in Ankara on Tuesday and Wednesday, Trump appeared to stoke the feud again by posting a photo on Truth Social showing Meloni looking up at him, captioned with the words “RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED.”
In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Tajani addressed the ongoing friction directly. Trump “speaks for himself. We have a U.S. President who loves to provoke, especially on social media. We have decided to stop responding to these remarks so as not to fuel disputes among our allies,” he said.
Tajani also reaffirmed the countries’ relationship, adding, “We are and will remain friends of the United States as our strategic partner and that of Europe.”
Meloni had previously been one of Trump’s strongest European supporters and was the only European leader present at his 2025 inauguration. But the relationship has grown strained this year after she criticized Trump for attacking Pope Leo over the pope’s condemnation of the Iran conflict. Trump responded sharply, accusing Meloni of lacking courage.
Italian newspaper Il Foglio joined in the back-and-forth on Tuesday, publishing a front-page image of Trump alongside Russia’s Vladimir Putin under the same “RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED” caption — a pointed response to Trump’s jab at Meloni.
