From 'Restraining Order' Swipe To 'Nice Person': Is Trump-Meloni Feud Cooling?

Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni appear to be lowering the temperature after weeks of public friction, with the Italian PM describing their relationship as “cordial”.

Is the Trump-Meloni feud beginning to cool? After weeks of unusually public sparring, US President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have both adopted a more conciliatory tone at the NATO Summit in Ankara, even though the disagreement that strained their relationship — Italy’s refusal to support American military operations against Iran — has not disappeared.

Meloni told Italian reporters on Tuesday that her ties with Trump remain “cordial”, playing down suggestions of a lasting rupture with one of her most important political partners.

Trump, for his part, acknowledged that the relationship had become “a little bad” but stopped well short of another personal attack on the Italian PM. Instead, appearing at a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he described Meloni as a “nice person” and said the two had previously enjoyed a good relationship. The qualification came quickly, however: Trump remains unhappy with Rome’s decision to stay out of the US campaign against Iran.

“Oh, I don’t know. I think she’s a nice person. We’ve had a good relationship, but it became a little bad because she refused to help us,” Trump said when asked about Meloni. “I didn’t put a heavy press on her, but she refused to get involved with Iran. You can imagine I wasn’t happy with that.”

The US President continued to argue that Italy had made a “mistake” by refusing to become involved in the Iran conflict. At the same time, his choice of words was markedly less confrontational than some of his recent public remarks about Meloni, leaving room for the two leaders to move past the personal exchanges that had increasingly overshadowed their political relationship. Meloni’s response in Ankara appeared equally measured.

Speaking to Italian journalists on the sidelines of the NATO Summit, the Italian PM stressed that her relationship with Trump remained “cordial”. She did not attempt to erase the differences that have emerged between Rome and Washington, but her comments suggested she was unwilling to allow those disagreements to become a permanent personal feud. That matters at a summit where divisions between the United States and several European allies are already under close scrutiny.

Meloni had previously been regarded as one of Trump’s closest political partners in Europe, with the ideological proximity between the two leaders helping Rome maintain a relatively direct channel to the White House. The relationship began to deteriorate after Italy refused to support the US military campaign against Iran, placing Meloni at odds with Trump on one of his administration’s most consequential foreign policy decisions. The dispute soon became personal.

Trump later claimed to an Italian journalist that Meloni had “begged” him to take a photograph with her at the G7 Summit in France. Meloni said she was “appalled” by the comments and publicly criticised the US President for attacking his own allies. The exchange drew political attention in Italy and prompted criticism from members of Meloni’s government.

Trump did not immediately retreat. He subsequently accused Meloni of attempting to rebuild ties with the United States to improve her declining popularity, further widening a dispute that had begun over Iran policy. Then came a Truth Social post featuring an image of Trump standing in front of a smiling Meloni with the caption: “Restraining Order Needed.” The post was widely interpreted as another swipe at the Italian leader.