The episode has led the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, to cancel the visit he had planned to make to the United States on June 21 and 22, after President Trump’s “serious and offensive words towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni,” which “offend all of Italy.”
“Donald Trump’s statements are completely invented. Honestly, I am stunned,” Meloni said in a message on her social networks, where she added: “Neither I nor Italy ever beg.”
This is how Meloni responded to the telephone interview that a journalist from the Italian television channel La 7 did with Trump, and of which only the transcript has been released in Italian. According to that medium, the American president stated about Meloni: “At the G7 summit, He begged me to take a photo. “It made me sad.”
“I’m sure she’s glad I talked to her! I didn’t have to do it! I don’t know what to say! He begged me to take a photo with me! He really wanted a photo with me. “I wouldn’t have accepted it, but I felt sorry for it!” reads the transcript.
Given these words, Meloni published a video on his social networks in which he added: “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves like this with his allies. Furthermore, It’s not the first time it happens“.
Io e l’Italia we do not imploriamo mai. pic.twitter.com/sTpKlqWB67
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) June 19, 2026
“I can only say that I am sorry that do not show the same determination towards the enemies of the Westwith the enemies of the United States, with leaders with whom it is much more accommodating,” he launched.
During the G7, Meloni stated that his relationship with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, had not changed and blamed his latest disagreements on “strong character of both” in defending their interests.
“I haven’t noticed our relationship changed.. There have been no recriminations between us nor have we talked about what happened. “Donald Trump and I have strong characters and we are both leaders who decisively defend the national interest,” he said at a press conference at the end of the G7 summit in the French town of Évian.
And he added: “We We don’t need to clarify anything when we disagree. with something.”
Trump claims that Meloni “begged” him to take a photo with her at the G7 summit.
Reality: https://t.co/eRITI2VyGu pic.twitter.com/VmGh7oV2uE
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) June 19, 2026
During the summit, Meloni could be seen chatting with Trump on several occasions, after the several clashes that both, former allies, have had over the war in Iran and the American’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV.