President Donald Trump threatened last week to withdraw troops from Italy. The threat followed his public accusation that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “lacked courage” after she defended Pope Leo XIV against Trump’s attacks, and refused to allow U.S. warplanes to transit Italian airspace for strikes on Iran. These two leaders began 2025 as close allies. That now seems like a long time ago.
Still, we shouldn’t be surprised that relations have gotten to this place. Trump’s tariffs on European goods, including Italian exports, caused frustration in Italy. The war against Iran has also raised energy prices for Italian consumers and increased cost-of-living fears. Trump also recently claimed that European allies had “stayed back” in Afghanistan, a statement that drew Italian government riposte that it lost 53 soldiers in that conflict. The Pope Leo XIV episode brought the tensions into the open. Trump attacked the pontiff for criticizing the American war on Iran. Meloni responded that Trump’s remarks were “unacceptable.” Trump then told an Italian newspaper he was “shocked” by Meloni’s behavior.
