'Allies, not vassals': How Meloni's break with Trump became a political moment for Italy
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is managing the repercussions of a public rebuke from US President Donald Trump this week over the pope, Iran and a defence deal with Israel. It's a rupture that had been building since the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran and may ultimately serve her political interests ahead of the 2027 legislative elections.
It was on a government plane somewhere between Verona and Rome that Itay's PM Giorgia Meloni learned that US President Donald Trump had called her "unacceptable". Her aides had flagged an interview the US president had given to Corriere della Sera published on April 14. She read it. Then, according to the Italian daily's account, the far-right PM settled on a line she had already used that afternoon: "Being allies does not mean there are no red lines, and it certainly does not mean being vassals or subjects."
Trump had been blunt. "I'm shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong," he said in the Corriere interview. His grievances were twofold: Meloni's refusal to back the US-led war on Iran and her condemnation of his attacks on Pope Leo XIV as "unacceptable". “She is the one who is unacceptable,” Trump added, “because she doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if it had the chance”.
The dispute also comes against the backdrop of Rome’s decision to suspend the renewal of a defence cooperation agreement with Israel, further fuelling tensions.
The exchange sent shockwaves across Italian political life, though not quite in the direction Trump may have intended.
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Back at the Palazzo Chigi (the official residence of Italian prime ministers) by late afternoon, Meloni's government moved quickly. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, also head of the centre-right Forza Italia party, and Defence Minister Guido Crosetto posted near-identical messages on social media emphasising national interest and Italy's dignity as an ally. "We are and remain staunch supporters of Western unity and steadfast allies of the United States, but this unity is built on mutual loyalty, respect, and honesty," Tajani wrote.
The front pages the following morning told the story of a rare political consensus. La Repubblica described the moment as one of Italian unity, framing Meloni's pushback as a "new Maginot line" against what it called the "unpredictable man occupying the White House". Il Giornale, on the right of the spectrum, celebrated an "Italy first" stance.
Suspending the Israel defence deal
Meloni also made another move that underlined the new direction. "In view of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defence agreement with Israel," she announced on the sidelines of the Verona event. An Italian diplomatic source confirmed the suspension to AFP, saying bluntly: "It would have been politically difficult to keep it going."
The agreement, approved by Israel in 2006 and renewed every five years, covers cooperation across defence industries, military training, research and development and information technology.
The move followed a sharp deterioration in bilateral ties. Tensions between the two countries had risen after the Italian government accused Israeli forces of firing warning shots at a convoy of Italian UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, damaging at least one vehicle. Italy summoned Israel's ambassador in protest on April 8. Israel then summoned Italy's ambassador after Tajani condemned what he called "unacceptable attacks" on Lebanese civilians during a visit to Beirut.
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While the suspension marks a visible break, its practical impact may be limited. “The choice not to renew the defence cooperation agreement with Israel is politically significant,” said Daniele Amoroso, a professor of international law at the University of Cagliari, “but its importance should not be exaggerated. It is likely to be more symbolic than substantive.”
The bridge that couldn't hold
Until recently, Meloni had been Trump's closest European ally by some margin. She was the only European leader to attend his inauguration in January 2025, and had since positioned herself as a transatlantic bridge. Her political memoir "Io Sono Giorgia" (I Am Giorgia), reissued in English in 2025, carries a foreword from Trump.
For Mario Del Pero, professor of international history at Sciences Po Paris, the rupture was structurally inevitable. "It was becoming politically unsustainable for Meloni to be associated with Trump," he told FRANCE 24. "He is immensely unpopular in Europe and in Italy. Being too close to him is a kiss of death for a European politician." He points to Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's electoral defeat last Sunday as a cautionary tale – a leader whose proximity to Trump, and a last-minute phone call with US Vice President JD Vance, may have cost him additional votes.
The ambition to act as a connexion between Washington and Brussels, Del Pero argues, was always an illusion: "On some key issues, you have to go along with one side or the other. Italy signed the joint declaration on Greenland, signed the same on Iran. Being a bridge is hard." With Italian elections due in 2027, he argues the domestic political logic of distancing herself from Trump is clear.
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Professor Amoroso offers a similar reading. “Meloni has distanced herself from Trump quite visibly, and his harsh comments were simply unprecedented,” he said, adding that the tensions reflect “a politically necessary recalibration” rather than a fundamental shift in foreign policy.
Italy’s core strategic priorities remain intact, he noted, pointing to its commitments within NATO, support for Ukraine and continued alignment with the European Union.
Still, the political calculus has changed. “Polls suggest that Trump is deeply unpopular in Italy,” Amoroso said. “Against this backdrop, [Meloni's] distancing [of] herself from Trump may be the least costly option.”
Ambiguity as a governing strategy
Italy was not spared the pain of Trump's tariffs, and the country last month refused US bombers authorisation to land at a pivotal air base in Sicily. Italy has historically maintained strong ties with Iran, Del Pero notes, and continued to engage with Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, albeit within the constraints of Western sanctions and shifting international tensions. The war in the Middle East, he says, is one "Europe didn't want, wasn't asked about, and wasn't informed of."
Vincenzo Susca, a lecturer in Italian politics at the Université Paul-Valéry in Montpellier who spoke with FRANCE 24's French-language channel in October 2025 on the occasion of Meloni's three years in power, argued that her government had achieved something historically unusual in Italy: a durable alliance between the far right, the traditional right, and Catholic Christian-democratic forces held together by carefully managed ambiguity. With legislative elections due in 2027, that coalition will be key to Meloni’s political survival. Preserving its internal balance will be essential if she hopes to remain in power.
On immigration, he observed, the government maintained an "aggressive rhetoric", including the since-failed migrant camp scheme in Albania, while the underlying practice changed little. Internationally, the same logic applied. "It's a marketing-oriented face," Susca said, "designed to make the government seem moderate, particularly internationally, when it isn't quite." The need for ambiguity, he argued, is structural: Meloni has been governing in a space suspended between European expectations and Trumpian impulses.
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