Meloni's counter-move to US betrayal: now it's up to negotiation, the answer will be European

Giorgia Meloni takes a stand. The prime minister shortly after Donald Trump's announcement sends out a post in which she says, without mincing words, that the decision to put a 20 per cent tax on all European products imported into the US is 'wrong' and 'not in the interests of either party'. That said, the negotiations now begin. The Prime Minister (who has cancelled all scheduled appointments for 3 April and scheduled a summit with ministers) remains convinced that this is the high road, that everything possible must be done to avert the trade war declared by the American ally. But it also knows that standing still is not an option. He had already said this - just a few hours before Trump's announcement - to the masters of the art of Italian cuisine, exponents of that Made in Italy excellence that is the agri-food sector, among those most affected by the US duties. And it is a conviction that he shared with both the head of state and Ursula von der Leyen. And which he will bring to Brussels in the next few hours with Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

Trump's decision is certainly not unexpected. And at Palazzo Chigi they were under little illusion. "We will do everything to work towards an agreement with the United States. In any case, we will act in Italy's interest by comparing ourselves with the other European partners': that's the line. The response will therefore be European. But certainly the Italian Prime Minister will play a significant role in the face to face between the EU and the US.

There is not much time. At the end of next week, new tariffs on steel and aluminium, which had already been put on the bill, will come into force against the US. And by the end of the month it is assumed that the response to the decision announced by Trump yesterday will arrive. In between, at Easter, there will be J.D. Vance's visit to Rome. The US Vice-President has explicitly asked to meet the PM and there is no doubt that the main dossier that will be addressed will be duties. A face-to-face meeting that could later be extended to a three-way discussion, with a video link-up with Ursula von der Leyen. Nothing has been decided yet, however.

In the meantime, however, there is another, no less delicate point with which Meloni is called to reckon: the compactness of her majority. Matteo Salvini keeps repeating that Italy must negotiate alone, 'one to one' with Trump. The leader of the League just hours before the party congress wants to be crowned the referent of Trumpism in Italy. The point is that the first to be perplexed (understatement) by this strategy are the League's governors, starting with Luca Zaia. Indeed, the North runs the risk of suffering a real collapse from US choices. And the idea of negotiating alone is not convincing. Not only because, according to the treaties, competence is exclusive to the EU, but because, if it is true that the US market is 'fundamental', the main market for Italian products remains Europe and in particular Germany and France.