President Donald Trump expressed on Monday his affinity for the new prime minister of Italy. Giuseppe Conte, the head of the ruling right-wing and populist coalition in Italy, is making first visit as premier to the United States.
“He’s a man who’s doing a fantastic job,” Trump said at the White House Monday afternoon, before the two leaders talked privately. “I really want to thank you very much for being here. We’ve become friendly over the G-7 meetings and some phone calls and I agree very much with what he’s doing on migration and illegal immigration and even legal immigration. I know he’s taken a very firm stance on the border. A stance few countries have taken and frankly he’s doing the right thing in my opinion. A lot of other countries in Europe should be doing it also.”
Conte’s coalition brings together Italy’s nationalist conservative League party with the populist and non-ideological Five-Star Movement. Together, the two parties have emphasized curbing immigration and a skeptical view of the European Union. Christopher Caldwell has documented the rise of the Five-Star Movement and its political maturation in the pages of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
Trump, who will hold a joint press conference with Conte later Monday afternoon, also mentioned before their meeting that the United States “as usual” has a “large” trade deficit of $31 billion with Italy. “I’m sure we’ll figure that out pretty quickly,” the president said.
