US president’s remarks to Italian TV trigger fury in Rome, prompting foreign minister to cancel Washington visit as Meloni accuses him of treating allies worse than enemies of the WestItalian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday of fabricating a story about her after he claimed she had “begged” him to take a photo with her during the G7 summit, triggering a sharp diplomatic rupture between Rome and Washington.The remarks, reported by Reuters, appeared to mark a sudden deterioration in ties between the two right-wing leaders, coming only days after the G7 summit in France had seemed to show signs of a more stable relationship following earlier tensions over the war with Iran.1 View gallery Trump speaks with Meloni at the G7 summit (Photo: Christian Hartmann / POOL / AFP)Trump made the comments in a brief interview with Italy’s La7 TV channel, after he himself asked the journalist about the Italian prime minister.“She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her,” Trump was quoted as saying by La7, according to the channel’s translation.“She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her,” Trump said, according to La7. The channel did not release the original audio of Trump’s comments, only a dubbed version.Meloni responded with an unusually sharp statement, accusing Trump of inventing the account.“Donald Trump’s statements are completely made up. I am frankly astonished. I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies: it is not the first time, moreover,” she said.“I can only say it is disappointing that he does not show the same determination with the enemies of the West and of the United States, whose leaders he instead treats with far greater indulgence,” Meloni added.“There is one thing he should remember: neither I nor Italy ever beg.”The anger in Rome was underscored by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who announced that he was canceling a planned visit to the United States next week.“The serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend the whole of Italy,” Tajani wrote on X.The exchange followed footage from the G7 summit showing Meloni and Trump seated side by side on a small sofa and engaged in close conversation. Trump, however, suggested in the interview that he had merely indulged her by speaking with her.One of Meloni’s closest political allies, who usually avoids the media spotlight, also delivered a rare public rebuke of the U.S. president.“It is unclear whether out of intent or ineptitude (Trump) is wrecking the historic relations between the United States and Europe,” Giovanbattista Fazzolari, undersecretary to the prime minister’s office, said in a statement.“With his inappropriate outbursts, he has managed no easy feat, to make the United States unpopular across the entire European continent, damaging not only Europe but above all the United States,” he added.