Italy’s Meloni, in Surprise Visit With Trump, Emerges as Europe’s Most Significant Leader, and the President-Elect Calls Her a ‘Fantastic Woman’

Giorgia Meloni’s surprise visit Saturday to Mar-a-Lago is likely to pay dividends for America — and the leader who will become the 47th president. Though the Italian prime minister’s trek to the president-elect’s Florida estate wasn’t the first trip by a G-7 leader, it is the most significant.Unlike the initial visitor, the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, Giorgia Meloni is a longstanding friend of the President-elect and shares his ideological profile. Moreover, she will be an integral player in resolving three key crises confronting the Western alliance in 2025: Ukraine, international trade, and Iran.Trump welcomed Signora Meloni with great effusion — as opposed to his derisive take on “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada.” In addition to breaking bread with the European Union’s most impactful leader, the president-elect gushed unabashedly over Giorgia.“This is very exciting — I’m here with a fantastic woman — the prime minister of Italy,” is how Trump put it. His affinity for Italy’s premier isn’t merely personal, though. He is cognizant that “She’s really taken Europe by storm, and everyone else.”This looks like the beginning of a special — and substantive — relationship. Senator Rubio, Mr. Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, underscored as much, calling Signora Meloni “A great ally and a strong leader.”Prime Minister Meloni’s journey was multifaceted, including an introduction to other members of the President-elect’s team: the Treasury Secretary-designate, Scott Bessent; Congressman Mike Waltz, expected to be the next national security advisor; and the anticipated new American ambassador to Italy, Tilman Fertitta.Accompanying Signora Meloni was the Italian ambassador, Mariangela Zappia. Though the foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, was miffed that he had been kept in the dark, his exclusion was likely due to the trip’s warp-speed logistical planning. The roll-call of participants points to a grand diplomatic reset.The challenge facing Prime Minister Meloni and President-elect Trump vis-à-vis Iran’s nuclear ambitions is intertwined with Tehran’s continued abduction of foreign nationals — the latest of which is the Italian journalist Cecilia Sala. Tehran’s incarceration of Ms. Sala for allegedly violating Islamic law will play a part in the West’s response to the Ayatollah and his minions.The Financial Times reported that Ms. Sala “was detained just days after Italy arrested an Iranian engineer and businessman,” Mohammad Abedini, who “is wanted in the US for allegedly exporting drone technology used to kill three American soldiers in Jordan a year ago.”Though Ms. Sala has been allowed one telephone call to her parents, her captors are treating the Italian reporter with a brutality that is redolent of their fundamentalist misogyny. Stripped of her glasses, Ms. Sala sleeps on a cold floor in solitary confinement while being blinded by a light that’s on 24/7.Yes, “Meloni’s trip came as she faced her toughest diplomatic challenge since taking office amid domestic political outcry over the arrest in Iran of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala.”In conferring with President-elect Trump and his team, though, Prime Minister Meloni wasn’t triangulating with the incoming American leader and the Iranians solely to secure the release of Ms. Sala. The future of the West’s relations with Tehran — and those with the broader Middle East — hang in the balance.On January 5, in an interview with Fareed Zakaria on the CNN GPS program, veteran diplomat Richard Haas ventured that Trump and the Western alliance might just be able to wrangle a new diplomatic deal preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.Unlike the flaccid Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was concocted by President Obama, a new and more verifiable and sinewy pact would include Italy. Given Tehran’s teetering economy and weak conventional military, such a diplomatic modus vivendi is within the realm of possibility.As is the possibility that persuading such a rogue state to abandon its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction might require a more bellicose stratagem. In addition to its pivotal — and burgeoning — naval presence in the Mediterranean, Italy remains one of Iran’s biggest trading partners.While fully adhering to the rules of diplomacy, Prime Minister Meloni will make her mantra abundantly clear: You don’t mess with the Magic Boot.Such resoluteness should go a long way toward strengthening Signora Meloni’s solidarity with Trump, thereby ensuring that she will become Europe’s chief interlocutor in the Continent’s relations with the United States — whether in trade or in matters of war and peace.

Italy’s Meloni, in Surprise Visit With Trump, Emerges as Europe’s Most Significant Leader, and the President-Elect Calls Her a ‘Fantastic Woman’

Italy’s Meloni, in Surprise Visit With Trump, Emerges as Europe’s Most Significant Leader, and the President-Elect Calls Her a ‘Fantastic Woman’

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