Donald Trump publicly rebuked Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday, calling her “unacceptable” and saying he was “shocked” by her stance in a six-minute phone interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
The split was plain. Trump said Meloni “is the one who is unacceptable” after she criticized his recent remarks targeting Pope Leo XIV, and he added that she “isn’t giving us any help, I’m shocked by her,” while also saying, “They depend on Donald Trump to keep it open,” in reference to global energy routes through the Strait of Hormuz.
The exchange matters because it marks a sharp turn from only weeks earlier, when Trump described Meloni as “a great leader” and she attended his 2025 inauguration. Tuesday’s remarks show the relationship has moved from public praise to open friction, with Trump’s criticism landing just as Meloni confirmed Italy had suspended the automatic renewal of a long-standing defense cooperation agreement with Israel.
The timing adds to the strain. Trump’s criticism of NATO allies for refusing to support a U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz helped frame the dispute, while Meloni has been moving to distance herself from both Washington and Jerusalem amid domestic and political pressure over the widening Middle East conflict. Her criticism of Trump’s remarks on the pope, and Trump’s response that she was “catering to the Radical Left,” left little sign of the easy alignment that once defined their public posture.
For now, the relationship between Trump and Meloni looks less like an alliance than a test of how long each side can keep the other at arm’s length without breaking with it entirely.