US President Donald Trump’s comments to an Italian media outlet about the country’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have sparked a fresh diplomatic incident.
According to CNN, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced Friday, June 19, that he was canceling a planned trip to the United States, where he was slated to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in response to Trump’s reported remarks.
Tajani called Trump’s claims “offensive,” while Meloni said they were “completely fabricated.”
It is the latest dip in the deteriorating relationship between the once-close leaders and a further fracture between the US and its European allies, coming after signs of repair at the G7 summit this week in France.
In an interview with Italy’s La7 TV, Trump claimed Meloni had “begged” him for a photo at the summit, and he obliged because he felt sorry for her.
Meloni refuted the comments in a sharply worded video posted on Friday morning, saying they deserved “an immediate response.”
She said in the video posted on social media, “Donald Trump’s statements are completely fabricated. I’m frankly shocked. I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way towards his own allies, and it’s not the first time it’s happened."
Tajani was scheduled to come to the US early next week and attend the Italy-US Business, Investment, Science and Innovation Forum in Miami.
