Trump-Meloni G7 Photo Spat Escalates as Italy's Top Diplomat Cancels US Trip

A photo op that cracked a transatlantic friendship

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called Donald Trump's claims "completely fabricated" after the U.S. president told Italy's La7 television network that she had "begged" him for a photo at the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, earlier this week.apnews +1 Trump said he felt "sorry" for her and agreed, while footage from the summit showed the two leaders seated side by side on a small sofa in what observers described as an extended, animated conversation.reuters Meloni, posting a video to her seven million Instagram followers, was terse and pointed: "Italy and I do not beg."apnews

Italy closes ranks as Tajani cancels Washington trip

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani moved swiftly, cancelling a planned trip to the United States and calling Trump's remarks "serious and offensive" toward Meloni and all of Italy.apnews +1 A U.S.-Italy business forum in Miami, scheduled for Monday, was called off after Tajani withdrew.reuters Italian President Sergio Mattarella phoned Meloni in solidarity, and politicians from across the spectrum rallied around her: Transport Minister Matteo Salvini posted that "whoever attacks Giorgia, attacks all of us," while Justice Minister Carlo Nordio invoked the graves of American soldiers who died to liberate Italy.apnews One of Meloni's closest advisers, Giovanbattista Fazzolari, went further, accusing Trump of "wrecking the historic relations between the United States and Europe" either "out of intent or ineptitude."reuters

A friendship that frayed over Iran and the pope

Meloni had once been Trump's most reliable European ally — the sole EU head of state to attend his January 2025 inauguration, and an early advocate for positioning Italy as a "bridge" between Washington and Brussels.nbcnews +1 The relationship began to fracture when she refused to endorse the U.S. war on Iran and defended Pope Leo XIV after Trump publicly attacked the pontiff.apnews Trump responded in April by telling the Corriere della Sera that he had thought Meloni "had courage, but I was wrong."bbc Saturday he escalated further on Truth Social, claiming Meloni had asked "over and over" for a photo because she wants to "get her numbers up" now that "the United States defeated Iran militarily."nbcnews Meloni replied in English on Instagram: "My popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours."nbcnews

A broader European reckoning

The spat between two ideological allies is being read across European capitals as a marker of how much the transatlantic relationship has shifted.bbc Where European right-wing leaders once cultivated ties with Trump as political fellow-travelers, several are now openly pushing back, reflecting both changed domestic politics and frustration with Washington's approach to Ukraine, tariffs, and the Iran war.bbc Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — a political opponent of Meloni — offered her "all my solidarity" at the European Council meeting, describing Trump's comments as an attack that went beyond the political or personal.apnews