The Art Of The (Bad) Deal: How Meloni’s Italy Sold Itself Short To Trump

-OpEd-

TURIN — Once this agreement is signed, the Italian government will have to defend the indefensible and find a creative way to spin the ongoing humiliation of the past six months, culminating in the Turnberry Agreement in Scotland, into a tale of heroic resistance. 

The indefensible we are talking about is, of course, U.S. President Donald Trump, Daddy, the living meme dressed as Julius Caesar, the Pope, and Superman, whom we humored by saying, “He talks big, but he won’t actually do it.” Much ado about nothing, we told ourselves. In the end, he won’t turn his back on his allies. And yet, here we are. 

The tariff match ends with a score of 15 to zero, eye-watering numbers to boot. Oil and gas purchases from the U.S. to the tune of $750 billion, plus another $650 billion in guaranteed investments by our industries on American soil, and a “friendship tax” so massive that it is hard to believe it will ever actually be enforced. Then comes the added insult: in his remarks after the meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Daddy promised to be kind to countries that didn’t strike a deal. They’ll be hit with tariffs of 15 or 20%. So in the end, we spent months negotiating just to land a deal that is barely better, or maybe not better at all, than what countries who never even came to the table will get.

Europe’s disappointment

Defending the indefensible is largely an Italian issue; others are not even pretending to hide their disappointment or their alarm at the outcome of this drawn-out affair, which comes on top of the enormously expensive continental defense commitments.

It’s going to be a harsh blow for the Meloni government.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, head of a country and a party that shapes the leadership of the European Commission, has openly said that the tariffs will seriously harm the German economy. The French government has called the agreement one-sided, and the right-wing opposition has gone so far as to urge President Emmanuel Macron not to sign in order to protect national interests. In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said he will support the pact but made it clear: without any enthusiasm. 

Here in Italy, we opt for the celebratory script, and the joint statement signed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Vice Premiers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini reads like the announcement of a Great Deal, to borrow Trumpian lingo: danger averted (the much-feared trade war), Quota Fifteen sustainable, a steady course to “preserve Western unity.”

Wishful thinking

It’s nothing but wishful thinking. This agreement lays bare the new state of transatlantic relations. For Washington, there are no partners: only rival powers to be fought and minor ones to be kept in line on trade, on defense, on everything. We’re starting to grasp the weight of the MAGA narrative about parasitic Europe, which the center-right had written off as mere campaign rhetoric.

It was not; it was the ideological foundation for the scrapping of a once-privileged partnership. It’s a rude awakening to realize that Trump is neither a “TACO,” an exaggerator who always walks it back, nor a capricious friend who in the end remains reasonable and open to negotiation.

It’s going to be a harsh blow for the Meloni government to see that this much-touted bond with Trump might actually turn out to be an embarrassing and even dangerous relationship. Because you can shout “Make The West Great Again” all you want, but the only real winner here is America.

Everyone else, including Italians, must open their wallets to cut American taxes, boost American jobs, prop up American goods, in exchange (maybe, we’ll see) for the mercy of the American leader.