Italy caught between NATO tensions and US tariff threats as EU seeks clarity

Italy has been placed at the centre of two converging transatlantic pressures this week, as President Donald Trump singled out the country among European allies for criticism at the NATO summit in Ankara, and the European Union formally questioned the rationale behind new US tariffs on the bloc.

According to a Time magazine analysis of the summit, published on Friday, Trump used his first press conference in Ankara to single out “the big European allies — France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom — for their lack of support over Iran”. He also reiterated a demand that Greenland, a Danish territory, be ceded to American control, and complained about allied defence spending, the report said.

The timing of the pressure is particularly delicate for Rome. Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest economy, runs a large public debt and is heavily reliant on exports to the United States, its second-largest non-EU trading partner after Switzerland. Any escalation in tariff disputes could hit key Italian sectors such as machinery, pharmaceuticals, and luxury goods.