Media: Meloni warns EU against confronting Trump

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sought to make the case for U.S. President Donald Trump to her European counterparts behind closed doors this week, urging restraint as EU leaders grappled with escalating transatlantic tensions.

At an emergency summit in Brussels on January 22, Meloni told fellow EU leaders that confronting Trump head-on would be a mistake, arguing that Europe has far more to lose from a conflict with the United States. Her remarks were described by four people briefed on the private discussions, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

According to these sources, Meloni encouraged her counterparts to remain calm and cautioned against dismissing Trump as irrational or unpredictable — characterisations that some European officials have privately used amid what has been a turbulent opening to 2026 in global affairs.

Speaking publicly after the summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested that EU leaders had drawn a lesson from recent events, concluding that dealing with Trump in a “firm” yet “non-escalatory” manner had proven effective and should remain their guiding approach.

The emergency summit was convened after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European countries in response to their opposition to his demand that the United States take control of Greenland from Denmark. The dispute has fueled a broader crisis in transatlantic relations, dominating political discussions in Brussels and across European capitals. Leaders also gathered for a dinner meeting on Thursday evening to begin outlining a longer-term strategy.

After the EU warned it was prepared to retaliate using trade measures and other tools if Washington followed through on the tariff threat, and as financial markets reacted negatively, Trump stepped back from the brink. He subsequently signalled an interest in reaching an amicable agreement over Greenland.

Accounts of Meloni’s intervention suggest she favoured a more cautious and de-escalatory approach than some other leaders at the table. The following day, she hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Rome, where the two discussed closer cooperation on defence and industrial policy.

EU leaders agreed to reconvene next month for what they described as a “strategic brainstorming” session focused on adapting to a new global order increasingly shaped by great-power rivalry and a diminished role for international law.

“Our impression was that a large majority of leaders really identified the last weeks as a turning point, and that Europe should act quickly on several fronts to be able to defend its core interests,” said a fifth person familiar with the discussions, adding that there were “no illusions that the crisis is over.”

By Tamilla Hasanova