MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trump opens a new rift with Meloni by claiming she 'begged' him for a G7 photo

Meloni responded immediately with a recorded video message. “Donald Trump's statements are completely fabricated. Frankly, I'm stunned,” she said

US President Donald Trump opened a new rift with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni by claiming that she “begged” him for a photo during the G7 summit and that he obliged out of “pity.” Meloni called the account fabricated, and in response Italy's foreign minister canceled a planned trip to the United States this weekend.

The remarks came in an interview broadcast on Friday by the Italian network La7. Although the journalist had asked about Ukraine, it was Trump who brought up Meloni and referred to the meeting the two had held at the summit. “She wanted a photo with me so badly. I wouldn't have taken it, but I felt sorry for her,” the president said, adding: “She's probably happy I talked to her; I didn't have to.” The network released only a version dubbed into Italian and did not publish the original audio of the conversation.

Meloni responded immediately with a recorded video message. “Donald Trump's statements are completely fabricated. Frankly, I'm stunned,” she said, and reproached her counterpart for his treatment of allies: “It's a shame he doesn't show the same resolve toward the enemies of the West, toward leaders with whom he is much more accommodating.” The prime minister concluded: “There is something he should remember: neither I nor Italy ever begs.”

Io e l’Italia non imploriamo mai. pic.twitter.com/sTpKlqWB67

— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) June 19, 2026

The clash had an immediate diplomatic consequence. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that he was suspending a visit to the United States planned for this weekend —in which he was to take part in an Italy-US business forum in Miami and meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio— considering Trump's words “serious and offensive” to all of Italy. The criticism crossed the political spectrum: figures from the governing coalition and the opposition closed ranks in defense of Meloni, and President Sergio Mattarella called her to express his support, according to the Italian press.

The episode comes shortly after the G7 summit, held from June 15 to 17 in Évian, France, where a video showing the two leaders talking on a sofa had been interpreted as a sign of rapprochement. Meloni was for years Trump's closest European ally and the only European Union leader present at his 2025 inauguration, but the relationship cooled in recent months, first over the Italian leader's criticism of Trump's attacks on Pope Leo XIV and later over the war in Iran, when the US president publicly reproached her for her lack of support.