Donald Trump’s words, as he himself has accustomed us, are now a strategic reminder. The fact that Brussels asked to meet Washington is the confirmation that Europe knows that without one ‘understood with the United States one’s economic space could be vulnerable.
The announcement of the White House hides an essential data: the European Union urgently urgently returned to a negotiating perimeter that Avoid new customs retaliationwhile the United States, returned centrally on the energy level, are in a force position.
In this context, theItaly he tries to propose himself as a credible interlocutor on both fronts: keeping his foot inside the community architecture, but also looking for a Direct channel with Washingtonespecially on energy and industrial dossiers.
A few months after potential new tariff measures, European diplomacy works at an accelerated pace: there is not only trade at stake, but the strategic balance of a continent that risks being crushed between the American pressure and the Chinese competition. The talks on duties become the superficial expression of a much deeper comparison: that on Europe’s ability to exist as an autonomous geopolitical subject.
Towards a diplomatic roadmap: the next stages of the US EU negotiations
According to EU sources, the first useful appointment for a high -level comparison is the Ministerial summit of the OECD in Paris (3-4 June), where the United States and European Commission also participate. This is an opportunity to prepare the most decisive interviews of June, including the G7 in the mid -month Canada (with the announced presence of Ursula von der Leyen and the Portuguese premier Antonio Costa next to Trump) and finally the summit born in the Hague (24-25 June) and the subsequent European Council.
Brussels (who wants to get to the negotiations on the same line as England) insists that a face to face with Trump It will only make sense with a ready -made solution package, and so far the EU strategy is to calmly study the counter -moves without propaganda statements.
The Commission asked the large European companies of detail their investment plans in the United Statesto estimate losses in Washington in case of breakage. One of these is certainly Stellantis, who has decided to move part of the production to the USA. European officials then work “with dialogue and straight back” on a common response, as required by the Italian government, aiming not to feed further tensions.
Italy between Brussels and Washington: Meloni’s double front
In the game of transatlantic relationships, Italy tries to build an intermediate positionaware of one’s limits but also of one’s usefulness. Meloni dialogues with Ursula von der Leyen, of course, but also tries a direct approach to Washington, where decisions that really count are made. Premier knows that Italy alone cannot influence the great balancesbut it can become functional to those who move them.
On the energy planrelaunches old national managers: nuclear power plants, long -term contracts, refusal of the Green Deal in an too ideological key. A strategy that aims to reassure the internal production world and to align, at least in part, to the American posture. On duties, he asks for less European internal rules and more dialogue with the United States, as if there could be a bilateral understanding within a multilateral context.
But all this is instrumental: the goal is not the removal of duties as such, but rather the reaffirmation of Italy as a useful actor in a wider clash, in which the stakes are the redefinition of western economic hierarchies. In this sense, Rome seeks a role as a strategic mediator, between a often slow and uniform Europe and a America that said times and conditions.
Energy, duties and Green Deal: the economic strategy of the Italian government
Melons has placed energy at the center of industrial policy. After months of increases, the goal is to offer stability to the production sectors, focusing on diversification, nuclear and long -term contracts. At the same time, the criticism of the Green Deal is linked to the desire to renegotiate rules and environmental objectives in order to encourage a balance between ecological transition and industrial competitiveness. The synergies between energy and commercial policy therefore become crucial if Italy wants to play a leading role also in comparison with the United States.
Dice and geopolitical: what’s at stake in the new transatlantic axis
From a geopolitical point of view, acommercial understanding would strengthen the Atlantic axis When the EU and the US face common challenges, such as competition with China or post-small energy crisis, up to support for Ukraine.
Conversely, a tariff escalation could trigger sectoral retaliation from both sides and feed a spiral of tensions just when Europe tries to diversify supplies and markets (for example, looking at the American GN or other strategic partners).
