Italy chooses a side: the secret meeting with Trump and the contract with Musk

The visit was kept a secret until the last moment. “A secret mission”, the “Corriere della Sera” defined it. No Italian government official has announced it to the media, and the first hints came only when Prime Minister Giorgio Maloney was suddenly spotted on Sunday evening at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the resort owned by US President-elect Donald Trump. Like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán before her, Maloney made a pilgrimage to the “Southern White House” to meet Trump even before his inauguration in two weeks.

In the meeting itself Trump showered praise on Maloney and defined her as a “fantastic woman”. “She took Europe by storm,” he said. He also met with her in Paris about a month ago, against the background of the reopening of the restored Notre Dame Church. There the two were photographed together with the billionaire Elon Musk, who is very close to the new administration, who was appointed in charge of fighting government bureaucracy. Musk did not hide his appreciation for Meloni in the past year in a series of messages on the X social network he owns, and even gave her an award on behalf of the network and a conservative research institute last summer. Also this time, the person who is considered to be his representative in Italy hinted on the network that the billionaire was behind the scenes during the surprise visit.

The tweets and messages are just the latest steps in a long chain of mutual praise, public statements and smiling photographs that symbolize one goal – a declaration of the existence of an independent axis between Italy and the US.

Not as part of the union

It is possible that Italy is currently demonstrating how to conduct foreign policy with the US under Trump. To work with the largest economy in the world, whose goal is to earn as much as possible at the expense of the “European rival”. Maloney’s journey demonstrates that she is doing this not as part of the European Union, but independently. Trump’s “divide-and-rule” policy vis-à-vis the Union is well expressed in the steps taken by the third largest economy in it. Apparently, Rome’s hands are tied. Trade is a matter for the European Union only. But the early visit, the cordial relations and also a surprising announcement of a direct deal with a company owned by Musk, which was published at the same time, may symbolize a new recipe for bilateral relations between European countries and the US.

Italy, after all, is very worried about the consequences of the protective tariffs and tariffs that Trump has threatened to impose on imports from the entire EU. If he imposes a 10% tariff across the board, as he threatened to do during the campaign (and even more), then this may worsen 7 billion euros in revenues from the Italian economy, according to a calculation by the Italian research institute Promethea. The US is the second largest export market for Italy, after Germany, and these exports include fashion, food, automobiles and industrial as well as medical products.

Italy is also currently in an economic shuffle, with minimal growth of 0.5% in the past year and 0.8% in the coming year. This, even after a grant worth more than 200 billion Euros (over a decade) that Italy receives from the European Union, which made Maloney “align” with Brussels and act in coordination with the Union, and after a short period of abnormal growth.

Increase Parmesan exports

The Italian concern is so great that in recent months Parmesan exporters, according to reports in the Italian media, have increased the export of hard cheese wheels by 30% to the USA, in order to take advantage of free trade even before Trump enters the White House. They are experienced: even during the first term Trump imposed protective tariffs on Italian cheeses, then due to Europe’s threat to tax the tech giants like Facebook and others on their territory. In 2019, it cost the Italian manufacturers 100 million dollars. Now they rushed “to supply goods that will last at least until April”, with the aim of earning a few months without new tariffs.

Another issue that is very troubling for Italy is the extent of the defense expenses that the country will be required to spend. Although it has a large military industry that is trying to benefit from the current boom in orders, Italy is among the countries that spend the least on defense in Europe, a subject of possible conflict with the new administration. Trump may have “marked” Germany in particular, but the Italian spending rate on defense does not exceed the 1.5% of GDP threshold, while in NATO they are already talking – at Trump’s request – of goals of 3% or 3.5% of GDP. Italy simply does not have the money for additional defense expenditures, it does not have the fiscal margin: its debt ratio is already at 138% of GDP.

All of these were mentioned as reasons for a possible meeting between Maloney and Trump, along with a very concrete issue of the last few days. About two weeks ago, Iran arrested the Italian journalist Cecilia Sella as a “bargaining card” against the background of the arrest in Italy of an Iranian scientist, after an American demand to hand him over immediately. Iran is threatening Italy to avoid it. The Iranian, Mohammad Abedini, is suspected of having helped procure and develop components of Iranian drones that were involved in the attack that killed American soldiers on the Jordan-Syria border. According to the “New York Times”, the issue “played a central role in the meeting” between the parties at Mar-a-Lago.

The contract with SpaceX

But in fact, a statement issued at the same time as the visit illustrates the confusion created by the new American administration between business relations and bilateral relations. It turns out that the Italian government, in no coincidence, decided that it intends to award a 1.5 billion euro contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX company. The payment will be made for secure communication to the Italian government and the country’s emergency services in the event of disasters, through the satellite network deployed by the company. The contract and the tender have been promoted for months. An hour after the meeting In Florida, the decision was announced in Bloomberg.

After the meeting all parties expressed satisfaction. Andrea Stroppe, who is considered to be Musk’s right-hand man in Italy, posted a message that Musk apparently attended the meeting at Mar-a-Lago, and an AI rendering showing the three as Roman dignitaries. Maloney posted a photo of herself with Trump on X, and wrote that she was “ready to work together.” While Musk bashes European leaders and praises far-right parties on the continent, and while governments in Europe are backing away from the use of X, in Meloni’s case the very use of the media he owns is the message. Maloney has an open line for those who will soon pilot the greatest power in the world. The message regarding the necessity of this line is now echoing in all European capitals.