Italian Prime Minister Meloni was received with full honours by President Trump at the White House, not only to talk about tariffs. She confirmed this by saying:

“When I talk about the West, I don’t talk about a geographical area, I talk about civilisation, and I want to affirm that civilisation is the stronger one”.

In doing so, she confirms the vision of a unipolar world dominated by the West, the sole owner of “civilisation“, using its military, political and economic strength – headed by the leading state the United States of America – to maintain the dominance it is now losing in a changing world. According to this vision, Italy binds itself even more closely to the United States, accepting all its demands in order to play the role of closest ally, in reality the vassal most willing to obey orders.

The first US demand, which PM Meloni is fulfilling, is to increase Italian military spending to 2% of GDP, equivalent to about 42 billion euros per year, or an average of 115 million euros per day of public spending on the military. The United States wants European countries to increase their military spending to 5% of GDP.

For Italy, this means about 105 billion euros, or an average military expenditure of 288 million euros per day.

Moreover, as a NATO member under US command, Italy continues to provide military support to Ukraine and, as a member of the Contact Group for the Defence of Ukraine, is contributing to an additional $24 billion in military aid to Kiev: Italy’s share will be borne not by the Ministry of Defence but by other ministries, such as the Ministry of Economy and Finance. At the same time, Italy will have to import much more LNG (liquefied natural gas) from the US, paying much more than it used to for Russian gas. After the EU called for zero tariffs on industrial goods with the US, Trump said the EU must eliminate its trade surplus with the US by buying $350 billion of US energy products. At the same time, Italy must further reduce this trade, with consequent economic losses, having signed a favourable trade agreement with China in 2019 that was not renewed by the Meloni Government in 2024.

In fact, the Trump Administration is asking European countries to drastically reduce their economic ties with China in order to reduce or eliminate tariffs. This is not just an economic war. The United States is increasing the deployment of military forces around China, both directly and indirectly through NATO, in whose ranks Italy is one of the most committed countries.

The NATO Secretary General, on a visit to Tokyo, said:

‘Japan is one of our most valuable partners and we are strengthening our cooperation’.

The Japanese Defence Minister said:

‘Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine shows that we cannot take our security for granted. China, North Korea and Russia are increasing their cooperation and military preparedness, undermining global stability, and this means that what happens in the Euro-Atlantic area is important for the Indo-Pacific and vice versa. So our security is inseparably linked.

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This article was originally published in Italian on Grandangolo, Byoblu TV.

Manlio Dinucci, award-winning author, geopolitical analyst and geographer, Pisa, Italy. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).  

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