Italy’s government on Friday slammed US President Donald Trump’s claim that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “asked” for a photo with him at the recent G7 summit, a result that suggests the long-standing US ally has had enough of Trump’s bragging.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani abruptly canceled a planned trip to the United States this weekend, calling Trump’s claims “ugly and offensive” to Meloni and all of Italy.
For his part, Meloni posted a video calling Trump’s claims “completely fabricated,” concluding: “Italy and I are not begging.”
Trump did this in an interview broadcast on Friday morning on the La7 network. A La7 reporter had asked Trump about Ukraine, but Trump raised Meloni and the conversation turned to their meeting, which was held by video, during the recently concluded G7 meeting in Evian-les-Bains, France. Meloni and Trump were filmed talking about several points, including alone on a small couch.
According to La7, Trump said that Meloni had “begged” him to take a picture. Trump said he was not forced to do it but he felt sorry for him and agreed, said La7. The broadcaster has a dubbed version of the chat online, not the original English audio.
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In his video, Meloni said he was responding to Trump’s allegations because “certain things deserve to be answered immediately.”
“Donald Trump’s statements are completely false. I am frankly shocked,” he said. “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves in this way towards his supporters. After all, this is not the first time this has happened.”
It was an apparent reference to an interview Trump gave to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera in April in which he criticized Meloni’s refusal to support the US-Israel war on Iran. Meloni did not respond publicly at the time.
On Friday, it seemed that he had had enough of his arrogance and scope.
From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, Egyptian President Adel Fattah al-Sisi, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, US President Donald Trump, Kenyan President William Ruto, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of Canada U. von der Leyen, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meet for a group photo at the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday June 16, 2026.
(Isabel Infantes/Pool Photo via AP)
“I can only say that it is a shame that he does not show the same determination to the enemies of the Western countries, to the enemies of the United States – to the leaders that he, on the other hand, is very close to,” said Meloni on Friday. “But there is one thing he must remember: Italy and I do not beg.”
Meloni initially wanted to build strong US-Italy relations when Trump began his second term, and positioned himself as a “bridge” between Washington and the European Union. He was the only EU head of state to attend his inauguration.
But relations have strained over America’s war on Iran, which Meloni said was illegal, and Trump’s position on Ukraine, which Italy strongly supports. Trump’s spending and strong US support for Israel over its war in Gaza have been other controversies.
Besides Meloni and Tajani, Italy’s Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, also rebuked Trump’s allegations, saying he did not believe Meloni would ever ask someone to photograph him, “even if threatened.”
“However, I can imagine how much it cost him to put aside what Trump had said in the past weeks, in order to serve the interests of Italy, Europe, and the West,” Crosetto wrote in X. “This kind of humor is of no use to anyone: neither in the USA, nor in Italy, nor in the alliance.”
© 2026 The Canadian Press
