Politico: Meloni privately tells EU leaders that fighting Trump is a bad idea

Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni, at a summit in Brussels on Thursday, January 22, said that the fight against U.S. President Donald Trump is a bad idea, as Europe risks everything in the event of a conflict with America. This was reported by the newspaper Politico citing four unnamed interlocutors with knowledge of the matter.

Instead, Meloni urged everyone to stay calm and not to write Trump off as crazy or unpredictable, as some officials did in private conversations in early 2026 in international politics. In this way, the Italian prime minister tried to ease transatlantic tensions.

After the summit, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that the leaders learned a lesson this week: confronting Trump in a "firm" but "non-escalatory" way is an effective strategy that should be continued.

The leaders convened the emergency summit in response to Trump's threat to impose tariffs on eight European countries for objecting to his demand to take control of Greenland. The crisis in the transatlantic relationship has dominated discussions in Brussels and other European capitals, and leaders gathered for dinner on Thursday to try to strategize for the future.

After the European Union threatened to use trade and other methods to retaliate if Trump follows through on the tariff threat and markets reacted negatively, the US president backed down and said he wanted a deal on Greenland.

Reports of Meloni's interventions indicate that she wanted a more cautious approach than some leaders at the table. On Friday, she hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Rome to discuss expanding defense and industrial cooperation.

EU leaders have agreed to meet again next month for a "strategic brainstorming session" on adapting to a new world order dominated by great power rivalry and a diminishing role for international law.

"We have the impression that the vast majority of leaders have indeed identified the last few weeks as a turning point, and that Europe needs to act quickly on several fronts to be able to protect its core interests. There are no illusions that the crisis is over," said the fifth interlocutor.

• January 17, 2026 Trump announced about imposing duties on the allies over Greenland, a self-governing island within Denmark that he wants to get.
• On January 18, eight European countries issued a joint statement in which they argue that tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations.
• On January 21, Trump announced that will not impose duties against European states and announced the basis for an agreement on Greenland.