The tenant of Palazzo Chigi is preparing to meet the American president in Washington: the two will talk about numerous dossiers, but the common thread will be represented by the Chinese question
The journey that Giorgia Meloni will make the April 17 in Washington to meet Donald Trump. The dossiers on the table will be numerous, but, in the background, the main question will be above all one: the relationship of the European Union with China.
The American president is not a mystery, he is trying to isolate as much as possible Beijing in terms of international trade. Not only that. He is also trying to carry on the misfortune of the American economy from the Chinese one. It is then clear that, when negotiated on the duties, the White House will ask Brussels to loosen his relations with the dragon. A request that France, Spain and Germany do not seem willing to welcome. In fact, these three countries are pushing the European Commission to adopt a line of approach to China: exactly the opposite of what is hoped for by Trump.
So Meloni has an important card to play. His government, in December 2023, did not renew the controversial Memorandum on the new silk road. Not only that. The current tenant of Palazzo Chigi is also playing on the shore with India: a country that, beyond the relationships that are not exactly idyllic that historically entertains with the dragon, is already negotiating with Trump to conclude an agreement aimed at avoiding American duties. Among other things, the Indian premier, Narendra Modi, was welcomed to the White House last February. In this respect, Meloni is a more than reliable European interlocutor for Trump. Beyond the fact that the premier repeatedly underlined the need to safeguard the transatlantic relationships, the coldness line that Italy has adopted towards Beijing cannot fail to be appreciated by the American president.
It is therefore in this setting that the various dossiers of which Trump and Meloni will talk will be foreseen. The hostility of Rome towards the European Green Deal is well seen by Washington with a view to competition with Beijing. A similar speech is valid for the defense. It is true that, at the moment, Italy has not yet reached 2% of expenses in favor of NATO: which is a risk in the negotiations with an American president who is now asking for an even greater commitment than this threshold. However, the reliability on China could push Trump to close (at least partially) an eye on the question, especially in the light of the increasingly close relationships that some members of the Atlantic alliance are weaving with the People’s Republic.
In addition, attention to the energy and geopolitical match. Trump aims to increase the export of natural gas to Europe and has, at the same time, need to stabilize the extended Mediterranean. From this point of view, the current White House could lean on Italy which, through the Mattei Plan, could in turn encourage a Washington approach against both Tunis and Tripoli. Without forgetting the Sahel: area where the Biden administration has lost ground and in which Trump could want to recover influence. The White House is moreover concerned by the growing influence of Russia and China in the African continent. In short, Chinese leitmotiv also resurfaces here. And that’s why the Mattei Plan could be positively evaluated by Trump.
It is not a coincidence that the main Italian criticisms of the imminent American journey of Meloni have come then Just from political parties and exponents who have been part of the Giallorossi government: the probably more Philocinese executive in our history. The hardest arrows were in fact launched by the 5 Star Movement and the Democratic Party. Sides that, net of a certain rhetoric, have never shone for Atlanticism. And who would like to bring Rome to be closer to Beijing. A strategy, this, dangerous and counterproductive not only on an economic level but also on that of national security.
