Italy's Meloni cautions EU on US trade war, won't send troops to Ukraine

By Angelo Amante and Giuseppe Fonte

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni cautioned European partners on Tuesday against escalating a trade dispute with the United States through retaliatory tariffs and urged Western allies to continue their longstanding cooperation.

Meloni, who is close to U.S. President Donald Trump, said established ties between Europe and the United States had to be preserved and distanced herself from any suggestion that EU nations needed to establish an independent security umbrella.

"It is a simple fact of reality that it is not possible to envision a lasting security guarantee by dividing Europe and the United States," she told parliament ahead of a summit of EU leaders later this week.

Trump has upended relations between Washington and its allies, freezing the flow of American weapons to Ukraine to force Kyiv to make peace with Russia. He has also started imposing hefty tariffs on European steel and aluminium, complaining about the U.S. goods trade deficit with the EU.

The European Union has said it will impose counter tariffs on 26 billion euros ($28 billion) worth of U.S. goods from next month. However, Meloni questioned the wisdom of this move and said Italy wanted a negotiated deal with Washington.

"I am not certain that responding to tariffs with more tariffs is necessarily a good deal," she said, warning of the potential for inflationary pressures and economic slowdown.

"For this reason, I believe Italy's efforts should be directed toward seeking common-sense solutions between the United States and Europe, guided more by logic than by instinct," she said.

Meloni has forged strong ties with Trump and was the sole European leader present at his presidential inauguration in January, which came barely two weeks after she met him for talks at his Mar-a-Lago retreat.

However Trump's dressing down of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House last month shocked many EU leaders, jeopardising Meloni's hopes of serving as a bridge between Washington and Europe.

NO TROOPS TO UKRAINE

Fearing they can no longer rely on U.S. military support, Britain and France have spearheaded efforts to prepare a mainly European peacekeeping force for Ukraine in the event of a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.

But Meloni voiced misgivings over the plan and ruled out any participation by Italy.

"The deployment of Italian troops to Ukraine has never been on the agenda, just as we believe that the deployment of European troops proposed by France and the United Kingdom is a very complex, risky, and ineffective option," she said.

She also questioned the way in which the European Commission was looking to massively ramp up defence spending, criticising its decision to brand the project "ReArm".

"I believe that 'ReArm Europe' is a misleading name for citizens because we are called upon to strengthen our defence capabilities, but today this does not simply mean buying weapons," Meloni said.

(Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Keith Weir)