Italy's foreign minister has cancelled a visit to the United States after Donald Trump claimed the country's prime minister "begged" him for a photograph at the G7 summit – a remark she called "completely made up".
Antonio Tajani said the trip, scheduled for 21 and 22 June, was off because Trump's words "offend all of Italy". The decision came hours after Trump told Italian TV channel La7 that Giorgia Meloni had been desperate for a picture with him at the meeting in Évian-les-Bains, France.
“Italy’s foreign minister cancels US visit after Trump says Meloni ‘begged’ for photo; PM calls claim ‘made up’.”
"She begged me to take a picture with her," Trump said in a phone interview aired on Friday. "She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn't have taken it, but I felt sorry for her." The US president added that Meloni was "probably happy I talked to her. I didn't have to talk to her."
Meloni responded in a combative video posted on Instagram, saying she was "frankly stunned". In the clip captioned "Italy and I never beg", she said: "Donald Trump's declarations are totally invented. I don't know why the US president behaves this way towards his allies – it's not the first time. I can only say it is unfortunate he doesn't show the same determination towards the West's enemies, whose leaders he instead treats with far greater indulgence."
The row marks a dramatic escalation in a relationship that had already soured in April over Italy's refusal to support the US-Israeli war in Iran. Trump then attacked Pope Leo XIV as "weak on crime and terrible on foreign policy", prompting Meloni to call his remarks unacceptable. Trump responded by saying she was "no longer the same person".
At the G7 summit earlier this week, the two leaders held several one-to-one meetings – including what an Italian diplomat called a "clarification meeting" on Monday evening. On Tuesday, European Council President António Costa joked they looked like "friends again". Trump replied: "I've been abandoned," drawing a laugh from Meloni, who said: "No, you were not." She told reporters on Wednesday the relationship was "unchanged".
Trump's latest comments have drawn fury across Italy's political spectrum. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini wrote on X: "Whoever attacks Giorgia Meloni attacks all of us." Former prime minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy "doesn't deserve to find itself so blatantly humiliated", while senator Matteo Renzi called the remarks "horrifying" and added: "Finally, President Meloni has noticed too."
The White House has not commented on the dispute. Meloni said it was "regrettable" that Trump appeared "far more accommodating" towards enemies of the West than towards allies. "Neither I nor Italy ever beg," she said.