Fighting Trump is a bad idea, Meloni privately told EU leaders

BRUSSELS — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made U.S. President Donald Trump’s case to the EU behind closed doors this week, in an effort to soothe transatlantic tensions.

At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, Meloni told her EU counterparts that fighting Trump was a bad idea because Europe has everything to lose from a conflict with America, according to four people briefed on the leaders’ conversations who were granted anonymity to detail private conversations. 

Instead, she urged them all to remain calm and not write Trump off as crazy or unpredictable, as some officials have privately described him during a whirlwind start to 2026 on international affairs. 

Speaking after the summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested the leaders had learned the lesson this week that standing up to Trump in a “firm” but “non-escalatory” way was an effective strategy that they should continue. 

EU leaders called the emergency summit in response to Trump’s threat to hit eight European countries with tariffs for objecting to his demand to seize control of Greenland from Denmark. The crisis in the transatlantic relationship has dominated discussions in Brussels and other European capitals, and leaders gathered for dinner Thursday to try to sketch out a strategy for the future. 

After the EU threatened to use trade and other methods to retaliate if Trump went ahead with his tariff threat, and markets reacted negatively, the U.S. president backed down and indicated he wanted an amicable deal on Greenland. 

The reports of Meloni’s intervention suggested she wanted a more cautious approach than some leaders around the table. On Friday, Meloni was hosting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Rome to discuss greater defense and industrial cooperation.

EU leaders resolved to meet again next month for a “strategic brainstorming” session on ways to adapt to a new world order dominated by great power rivalries, with less of a role for international law. 

“Our impression was that a large majority of leaders really identified the last weeks as a turning point, and that Europe should act quickly on several fronts to be able to defend its core interests,” a fifth person briefed on the discussions said. There were “no illusions that the crisis is over.”

Hannah Roberts in Rome contributed to this report.