2,300 years in the making, a record-setting bridge is finally in the works. Because of Trump. Sort of | CNN Business

Around 250 BCE, the Romans laid wooden decks across floating barrels to span the Strait of Messina. In a victory march across the makeshift bridge, the soldiers transported 140 Carthaginian elephants from Sicily to Rome’s Circus Maximus, according to the first-century historian Pliny the Elder.

Since then, many business and political leaders have tried and failed to build another bridge there.

Until now. Supported by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the Italian government in August 2025 gave final approval to span the 2.3-mile channel. If completed (it faces some legal challenges), it would become the world’s longest single-span suspension bridge.

But Meloni’s bridge isn’t just a public works project. She declared the infrastructure investment critical to Italy’s national defense. It’s a clever, if comical, maneuver to help Italy meet onerous military spending targets pushed by President Donald Trump and enforced by NATO.

Europe’s spending problem