ROME (Reuters) – The introduction of new U.S. tariffs would hit Italian producers hard, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in Rome on Wednesday, adding that every effort should be made to avoid a trade war.
U.S. President Donald Trump was expected to announce sweeping new tariffs on global trading partners later in the day, upending decades of rules-based trade, risking cost increases and likely drawing retaliation from all sides.
“It is clear that the introduction of new tariffs would have heavy repercussions for Italian producers”, Meloni said while hosting a prize-giving ceremony for Italian cuisine.
Meloni, a friend of Trump who has been more cautious than other EU leaders about how the bloc should react to tariffs, said she did not rule out “adequate responses” to defend Italian products.
Separately, her EU Affairs Minister Tommaso Foti warned against a tit-for-tat approach from Italy and Europe.
“It must not be a gut reaction, but a reasoned one. There is a need for dialogue… the less we raise our voice the better, the point is to be determined when we are at the (negotiating) table,” he said at a business lobby event in Rome.
(Reporting by Antonella Cinelli and Angelo Amante, writing by Philippe Leroy Beaulieu, editing by Alvise Armellini and Gavin Jones)
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