Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced Friday that he was canceling a planned trip to the United States in response to comments made by US President Donald Trump about Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Tajani called Trump’s claims “offensive,” while Meloni said they were “completely fabricated.”
Background
In an interview with Italy’s La7 TV, Trump claimed Meloni had “begged” him for a photo at the G7 summit, and he obliged because he felt sorry for her. Meloni refuted the comments in a sharply worded video, saying they deserved “an immediate response.”
“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,” she said.
Tajani was scheduled to attend the Italy-US Business, Investment, Science and Innovation Forum in Miami, where he was to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss U.S.-Italy bilateral cooperation on economic security and critical minerals.
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
