Rubio meets Italian PM after Trump criticism

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday, the second day spent calming tensions in Rome following criticism by President Donald Trump.

The day after a “friendly and constructive” audience with Pope Leo XIV, whom Trump lambasted for his anti-war rhetoric, Rubio will meet with far-right Meloni at her office in Rome.

Meloni is one of the US president’s closest European allies, but he has sharply criticised her for failing to help with the war with Iran.

In an interview with an Italian newspaper last month, Trump said he was “shocked”, saying: “I thought she had courage, but I was wrong.”

His comments came a day after Meloni said Trump’s criticism of Leo, the first ever US pontiff, was unacceptable.

More recently, Trump threatened to pull US troops from Italy, saying Rome “has not been of any help to us” in the Iran war.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who also met Rubio on Friday, stressed the importance of the transatlantic alliance.

“We are absolutely convinced that Europe needs the United States, and that the United States also needs Europe,” he said on Thursday.

“If there are things we disagree with, we say so, we have said so, and we will say so, because this is what being allies is all about: always with our heads held high, convinced of our position, and we intend to play a role.”

In a meeting at the Italian foreign ministry on Friday morning, Tajani and other officials presented Rubio with documents tracing the US diplomat’s Italian origins.

“It’s a true honour and a very special moment to receive all of this information,” Rubio said, adding that he was going to learn Italian.