President Donald Trump, center, speaks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on June 16, 2026. This meeting occurred before a public disagreement that united Italian politicians across party lines against Trump and further strained the already fragile relationship between Washington and its European allies. (Evelyn Hockstein/Associated Press)
A war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could put a damper on celebrations of America’s 250th birthday in Italy, as Italian officials express solidarity with the embattled prime minister.
Local political and social leaders have already announced plans to skip an Independence Day event at Aviano Air Base following comments Trump made in the Italian media last week claiming Meloni had “begged” for a photo with him.
The nearby city of Pordenone will not participate in the event on the U.S. air base, the municipality said in a statement Saturday, a decision Mayor Alessandro Basso said was “made with regret, not hostility.”
“Pordenone has always had a relationship of respect and goodwill with the American community present in our territory,” Basso said in the statement, according to a machine translation. “This bond is not being questioned.”
However, Basso said the relationship is based on mutual respect, and when that respect is absent, “it is right for institutions to take a consistent position.”
Michelangelo Agrusti, president of the local business association Confindustria Alto Adriatico, also announced he would not attend the Aviano event because of Trump’s “public denigration” of Meloni, as well as other European leaders and the pope, the Italian news service ANSA reported.
The announcements came in response to Trump’s comments in an interview on Italy’s LA7 television network last week in which he said he had agreed to a photo with Meloni at the G7 meeting in France only because he felt sorry for her after she “begged” him.
Meloni pushed back in a video posted to her Instagram account, calling his statements “completely fabricated” and questioning why he would treat his allies like that.
“I can only say that it is a pity that he does not have the same determination with the enemies of the West, with the enemies of the United States,” Meloni said. “But he must remember one thing: Italy and I do not beg.”
Her comments drew support from others in the Italian government, including Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who abruptly canceled a planned trip to Miami over the weekend.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, who appeared with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at a meeting last week where both defense chiefs touted the U.S.-Italy relationship, also defended Meloni, calling Trump’s comments a “lapse in style.”
“Jokes of this kind do no good to anyone: neither to the USA, nor to Italy, nor to the (NATO) alliance,” Crosetto said in a post on X.
Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio cited the sacrifice of U.S. troops during World War II in a statement of solidarity with Meloni shared on his ministry’s X account.
“The thousands of crosses marking the graves of American soldiers who died to free us from Nazi-Fascist dictatorship did not deserve such a painful blow to our fraternal ties,” Nordio said.
Over the weekend, Trump and Meloni continued to trade barbs. In a Truth Social post Saturday, Trump suggested that the Italian prime minister was struggling with her popularity, “possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a nuclear weapon.”
He called it a “great logistical inconvenience” that Italy had refused to let U.S. warplanes stop at Naval Air Station Sigonella on the way to the Middle East early in the U.S.-Israeli air campaign against Iran.
“Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her ‘numbers up,’” Trump said. “No thanks!!!”
Trump and Meloni had been seen chatting at the G7 summit in a video clip circulated online in which Meloni is heard saying “we’ve always been friends,” to which Italian media reported Trump clapped back that she’d abandoned him on the war with Iran.
Long considered one of Trump’s closest allies in Europe, Meloni responded in an Instagram post in English saying that his “constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless” and that her relationship with him “certainly has not helped” her popularity.
Italian officials have said the use of the bases to support the war in Iran was beyond the scope of existing bilateral agreements. Meloni has echoed that position, saying she would ensure those agreements are not violated.
“My popularity depends on my ability to defend Italy’s national interest, and that is exactly what I have always done,” she said. “That is also what I did regarding the American military bases in Italy.”
Telling Trump that her popularity is none of his concern, she concluded by suggesting that he focus on his own.
Also over the weekend, Italy’s La Repubblica reported that several Italian ministers are expected to skip an Independence Day reception at the U.S. Embassy in Rome.
Other Independence Day celebrations in the country seem less affected by the dustup.
Some 1,500 Italian guests of U.S. service members and others based in Vicenza are registered to attend a two-day Independence Day celebration at Caserma Ederle on July 1-2, said Rick Scavetta, a spokesperson for the Vicenza-based U.S. Army Garrison Italy.
The event is also one of two times each year that the mayors of communities in the surrounding area meet for a summit with base officials ahead of the fireworks, as part of a Community Alliance Program that pairs units on base with local communities.
It’s a “pretty formal, structured thing that is always well-attended,” Scavetta said Monday, adding that responses to invitations to the summit so far are on track for about what is typical.
“We have such a strong relationship with our local leaders here,” Scavetta said.
