Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited President-elect Donald J. Trump’s golf course in Florida on Saturday and held an informal meeting.
The trip to the Mar-a-Lago club comes just days before Ms. Meloni is scheduled to welcome President Biden for an official visit to Italy and the Vatican from January 9 to 12.
On Saturday, he made an appearance at Mar-a-Lago’s Grand Ballroom. According to the pool report, President Trump was having dinner with Ms. Meloni, whom he called a “fantastic woman,” adding, “She’s really taken Europe and everyone else by storm.”
They watched a screening of the film, titled “The Eastman Dilemma: Law or Justice,” along with potential members of the incoming Trump administration, including Secretary of State candidate Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Mr. Meloni and Mr. Trump have expressed mutual appreciation in the past, and her trip was one of the first several times a foreign leader has visited the president-elect’s private residence in Florida since he was elected last November. The meeting strengthened the hopes of Meloni’s supporters that the conservative Italian prime minister would become Trump’s ally in Europe.
Much of that role has involved mediating tensions between other European leaders and President Trump, who has threatened to start a trade war with the continent, as well as reducing U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with some NATO countries and Russia. There is this.
The agenda for Saturday night’s meeting was unclear, but observers expected the two leaders to discuss these issues.
Another topic of discussion, according to observers, was the Iranian detention of prominent Italian journalist Cecilia Sala. This happened a few days after Italy arrested an Iranian on suspicion of providing drone parts to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at the request of the United States. Iran has regularly detained foreigners and dual citizens in exchange for money and people.
A person briefed on the meeting said Mr. Meloni had pressed aggressively for this.
She also has a good relationship with Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and close ally of the president-elect, and her supporters hope that her international standing will be strengthened if President Trump is elected.
Since being elected, President Trump has welcomed Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a champion of ‘illiberal democracy’, and Argentina’s firebrand right-wing President Javier Millais. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became the first G7 leader to visit President Trump in Florida since the election after he threatened to impose tariffs on Canada.
Maggie Haberman contributed to the report.
