Fighting Trump is a bad idea, Meloni told EU leaders behind closed doors. What the Italian prime minister advised him
Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump, on October 14, at the peace summit in Egypt. Credit: Michael Kappeler / DPA / Profimedia
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned that Europe would stand to lose in a conflict with the United States and pleaded in favor of US President Donald Trump in a closed-door meeting with other EU leaders this week, according to Politico.
At Thursday's summit in Brussels, Meloni told his EU counterparts that it was a bad idea to fight Donald Trump because Europe had everything to lose in a conflict with the US, four people briefed on the leaders' talks revealed.
Instead, she urged everyone to keep calm and not think of Trump as crazy or unpredictable, as some officials had privately described him during a stormy start to 2026 in international affairs.
Speaking after the summit, the European Commission president suggested leaders had learned their lesson this week, which was that standing up to Trump in a firm but “non-escalating” way was an effective strategy they should continue to use.
EU leaders called the emergency summit after Donald Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on eight European countries that opposed his demand to take control of Greenland. The US president eventually backed off his threats, announcing after a meeting in Davos with Secretary General Mark Rutte that the principles of a deal with NATO on the island's future had been agreed.
The revelations about Meloni's intervention suggest the Italian prime minister wanted a more cautious approach than other European leaders. On Friday, she hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Rome for talks on industrial and defense cooperation.
Another summit next month
EU leaders agreed to meet again next month for a “strategic brainstorming” session on how to adapt to a new world order dominated by great power rivalries, with a smaller role for international law.
“Our impression was that a large majority of leaders really identified the last few 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 briefed on the talks. There were no “illusions that the crisis was over”.
