Meloni, Europe’s Trump whisperer, tries her hand on tariffs

Meloni sought to make light of her mission as the first European leader to meet with Trump in Washington since “Liberation Day."

“As you can imagine, I feel no pressure at all," Meloni said, addressing a crowd of entrepreneurs and business leaders Tuesday night in Rome.

The Italian premier is better placed to convince Trump to go easy on Europe than almost any of her counterparts. Meloni and Trump share a conservative, anti-woke worldview and Trump likes her, once calling her a “fantastic woman." Meloni, a friend of Elon Musk, was the only European leader to attend the president’s inauguration.

Still, it is a daunting task.

Meloni’s meeting with Trump on Thursday will test whether she can use this ideological affinity to secure a breakthrough for Italy and the European Union more broadly. Talks to renegotiate the world’s biggest trade relationship are promising to be long and potentially contentious.

Trump has repeatedly taken aim at the EU, accusing it of “screwing us on trade." To appease the president, the 27-country bloc is floating the possibility of bringing mutual tariffs for industrial goods down to zero, an offer Trump has so far rebuffed.

Meloni’s broader goal is to keep the U.S. firmly anchored to Europe, positioning herself as a potential bridge between Western allies. As the rhetoric from Washington turned increasingly antagonistic, the Italian premier has tried to keep the continent in Trump’s good graces, urging her European colleagues to avoid confrontation.

She has carefully avoided criticizing the Trump administration’s rapprochement with Russia despite her staunch support for Ukraine. She has spoken out against plans led by the U.K. and France to potentially send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine without the participation of the U.S.

In response to pressure from Washington, Italy is signaling it will increase military spending to at least 2% of its budget to meet its obligations under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance.

“We have made a political decision in response to requests from America, which are legitimate," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said over the weekend. “When the United States says ‘we alone can’t be responsible for Europe’s security,’ they are right."

European countries are planning to increase military spending to reduce military dependence on the U.S. after Trump cast doubt on whether America’s longstanding security guarantees will last.

Meloni in Washington is likely to signal that, as far as Italy is concerned, some of that spending could happen in the U.S., where Italian companies—including defense conglomerate Leonardo and shipbuilder Fincantieri—already have manufacturing sites. Italy is also open to increasing its gas imports from the U.S., another issue that Trump is pressing Europe on.

In talks with Trump, Meloni is also expected to make the case for the EU’s zero-for-zero tariff offer in Washington, but a breakthrough is unlikely. Talks between EU and U.S. trade officials are making little progress, and significant sticking points remain.

In response to Trump’s decision to pause so-called reciprocal tariffs—which include 20% blanket levies on European goods—the EU put on hold a planned set of countermeasures that targeted U.S. goods ranging from soybeans to motorcycles.

Still, a 10% baseline tariff on all imports and 25% sector-specific tariffs on cars, steel and aluminum remain in place. Trump is considering additional global tariffs, including on pharmaceutical products.

The EU has made it clear that retaliatory tariffs are still in the cards. “If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in," said EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, who is closely coordinating with Meloni on her trip.

Trump made it clear that dropping tariffs alone isn’t going to cut it. He has been complaining about non-tariff barriers, too, ranging from strict food-safety regulations to value-added taxes on goods and services—issues on which European countries are unlikely to compromise.

Trump wants the bloc to commit to buying large amounts of American energy to reduce the EU’s trade surplus with the U.S. Europe sells more goods to the U.S. than it buys, but the opposite is true when it comes to services.

The EU’s goods trade surplus with the U.S. was $236 billion last year; it was $132 billion with services included for 2023, the last available figure from the Commerce Department. That is something Trump has left out of his tariff calculations but that European officials may use in trade negotiations.

The EU has delayed a decision to fine U.S. tech companies including Apple and Meta under its digital-competition rules. The U.S. has complained that such penalties amount to unofficial taxes on large American tech firms.

Write to Margherita Stancati at margherita.stancati@wsj.com