From Frenemies To Friends? Meloni Reacts As Trump Calls Her 'A Nice Person'

Just when the feud between Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni looked ready to boil over completely, the American president suddenly softened his tone. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey , Trump described the Italian prime minister as "a nice person, actually," attempting to cool weeks of increasingly personal sniping between two leaders once considered close ideological allies.

The turnaround comes just days after Trump reignited the dispute over the weekend, posting a doctored image of Meloni on Truth Social captioned "Restraining Order Needed," a jab that stunned observers given how publicly warm the two had once appeared. When a reporter pressed him in Ankara about why he had suggested Meloni was behaving like some kind of stalker, Trump brushed it off casually, replying that he did not put "heavy pressure on her" and insisting he actually likes her.

The roots of this rift trace back to last month, when Trump told an Italian television channel that Meloni had "begged" him for a photograph at the G7 summit in Evian, France , adding he only agreed because he "felt sorry for her." Meloni firmly denied the claim, calling it fabricated, and the fallout was swift. Italy's foreign minister Antonio Tajani cancelled a planned trip to Washington, while other officials skipped scheduled Independence Day celebrations in Rome altogether.

But behind the personal jabs sits a far more serious policy disagreement. Trump has repeatedly voiced frustration over Italy's refusal to back deeper military involvement during the US campaign against Iran , specifically Rome's decision not to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz . Italy did permit American forces limited use of its bases for logistical support, but drew a firm line at combat operations, a decision Meloni's government defended as rooted in legal obligations and domestic political reality. "She refused to get involved so it soured my relationship with her a little bit," Trump admitted, before adding, "I think she made a mistake."

Meloni, for her part, chose measured diplomacy over confrontation. Speaking separately in Ankara, she described her relationship with Trump as simply "cordial," stressing that foreign policy between nations runs deeper than personal chemistry between any two leaders . Once viewed as Trump's closest partner in Europe, and the only European leader to attend his 2025 inauguration, Meloni now finds herself navigating a noticeably cooler, more transactional dynamic, even as both sides insist the broader US Italy alliance remains intact.