ROME — Italy has confirmed it will participate in the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative focused on artificial intelligence supply chains, even as tensions linger between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and U.S. President Donald Trump, according to an Italian foreign ministry official.
Ambassador Armando Varricchio, speaking to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Friday, said that Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding “at the first available opportunity.”
“This provides a political basis that demonstrates the willingness to resume from where we had temporarily left off,” Varricchio said.
Pax Silica is a U.S. State Department program that brings allied nations together to protect and strengthen supply chains tied to artificial intelligence. The initiative spans a wide range of sectors, including energy, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, and AI development. The European Commission formally joined the effort on Thursday, while the Netherlands signed on earlier in the week.
Varricchio, who serves as Italy’s special envoy for innovation, attended a Washington summit on the initiative Thursday in an observer capacity. He also put his name to a joint declaration on AI opportunities alongside representatives from countries including Britain, Germany, Japan, India, and South Korea.
Italy had originally been scheduled to officially join Pax Silica on Monday in Miami. However, Foreign Minister Tajani canceled that trip after Meloni and Trump had a very public disagreement, stemming from the U.S. president’s complaints that Italy had not sufficiently supported the war against Iran.
