Summary by Bloomberg AI
- President Donald Trump expects to reach a trade deal with the European Union, but is in no hurry to finalize an agreement to reduce tariffs.
- Trump said he fully expects a trade deal, but it will be a fair deal, and indicated that other nations would need to make concessions.
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni invited Trump to make an official visit to Italy “in the near future” and expressed hope he would meet with EU officials to discuss trade.
By Kate Sullivan and Donato Paolo Mancini
04/17/2025 11:27:54 [BN]
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that he expects to reach a trade deal with the European Union, but indicated he is in no hurry to finalize an agreement to reduce tariffs.
“There’ll be a trade deal,” Trump said Thursday, adding “I fully expect it, but it’ll be a fair deal.”
The president offered no time line for when he expected the first of the agreements to be finalized with trading partners seeking to avoid high tariffs, saying only that they would happen “at a certain point” and insisting that other nations would need to make concessions.
“We’re in no rush,” Trump added. “We are going to have very little problem making a deal with Europe or anyone else.”
Meloni invited Trump to make an official visit to Italy “in the near future” and expressed hope he would meet with EU officials to discuss trade. Securing face-to-face negotiations with the bloc would allow European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen an opportunity to speak with Trump for the first time, and would help cement Meloni’s role as a conduit between Europe and the US.
At the start of their meeting, Meloni had expressed optimism about striking a trade deal, but emphasized that Trump would need to engage with other European leaders saying, “I cannot do this deal in the name of the European Union.”
Meloni said she discussed with Trump areas where their countries could cooperate, including defense, space and on energy, adding that Italy “will have to increase its LNG imports.” Trump has made boosting US energy exports a key element of his trade agenda.
“The goal for me is to make the West great again. And I think we can do it together,” Meloni said.
Meloni’s Washington visit was closely watched by other trading partners eager for any insight into what concessions Trump is seeking. The Italian prime minister, who is an ideological ally of the US president and the leader of a Group of Seven economy, is seen as a potential bridge between his administration and the EU amid a trade fight that’s rattled financial markets and deepened fears of a global downturn.
Trump’s decision last week to pause high tariffs on the EU and other trading partners has sent foreign leaders racing to secure deals with the administration during a 90-day negotiating period. The EU faces a 20% “reciprocal” tariff if it doesn’t reach a deal with Trump — double the current rate of 10%.
EU officials are developing a proposal to restrict some exports to the US as a possible response if talks fail, according to people familiar with the plan. That measure would come in addition to retaliatory duties that Europe prepared but paused when Trump temporarily reversed course on his higher tariff rate.
Read more: EU Weighs Export Restrictions on US If Trade Negotiations Fail
Meloni, asked during the meeting if the EU would proceed with those additional tariffs, said she was confident in striking a deal to avert the tit-for-tat exchange.
Trump indicated he still foresees a “baseline of a substantial number” of tariffs on imports, suggesting that he would not abandon duties entirely.
Trump is personally involving himself in the talks with foreign leaders over trade, and Meloni’s visit comes a day after he hosted a Japanese delegation and spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US was prioritizing working with the world’s 15 biggest economies first, and said administration officials are expected to meet with negotiators from South Korea next week and said talks with India are progressing.
“We have a lot of countries that want to make a deal. Frankly, they want to make deals more than I do,” Trump said.
Italian officials ahead of Meloni’s visit conceded they held low expectations for securing an agreement in Thursday’s talks. US officials have indicated the bulk of the tariffs imposed on the EU would not be removed, and there was little progress made in trade discussions earlier this week between the two sides.
In addition to the baseline tariff, the US has imposed additional levies targeting sectors including cars as well as steel and aluminum. About 10% of Italy’s exports go to the US and some of its most important products, including autos, pharmaceuticals and food and wine, would be heavily affected by the tariffs.
Read more: Meloni Faces Trump Litmus Test After Months of Preparation
Beyond trade, Trump is also pressuring on European security partners to boost military spending.
Italy has moved to raise defense spending in recent years and the nation, traditionally a laggard, is expected to reveal plans to meet NATO’s 2% target, Bloomberg has reported. That’s still considerably lower than Trump’s preferred threshold of spending 5% of gross domestic product on defense — and is nearly impossible for Italy to achieve without significant changes to its budget.
“Europe, as you know, is committed to do more,” she said Thursday, including working “to help the member states and increasing the defense spending.”
Meloni will return to Rome, where she is slated to host US Vice President JD Vance on Friday. Vance’s views on Europe have been openly antagonistic, highlighted most notably by an address at the Munich Security Conference this year where he scolded the continent’s leaders, accusing them of retreating from democratic values.