‘Italy will never beg’: PM Meloni slams Trump’s G7 ‘photo’ claim

Posted on by Taiwo Adebulu

2 min readJun 20, 2026 10:44 AM IST

G7 Summit, which is supposed to bring nations closer and resolve issues, has now sparked a fresh geopolitical tension. What initially seemed like a friendly exchange at this year’s G7 summit has quickly turned into a war of words between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and US President Donald Trump, once seen as close political partners.

The clash began after Trump, in a phone interview with Italy’s La7 TV channel, claimed that Meloni had begged him for a photograph during last week’s G7 gathering in Evian-les-Bains in France. “She begged me to take a photo with her,” Trump reportedly said, adding that the Italian leader was “probably happy” that he had spoken to her.

full video clips here

Meloni responded within hours, issuing a video message posted on Instagram. “Some things need an immediate reply,” she said.

“The claims made by Donald Trump are completely unfounded. Frankly, I’m shocked. I don’t understand why the president of the United States behave like this towards his allies,” Meloni said in a video in Italian. She was quoted by BBC as saying, “It’s not the first time this has happened after all. The only thing I can say is that it’s a pity that he doesn’t show the same determination with the enemies of the West and the United States, whose leaders he treats with far greater indulgence.”

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In a pointed message aimed directly at Trump, Meloni stated, “There is one thing he should remember: neither I nor Italy ever beg.”

The dispute comes just days after the G7 summit, where Trump and Meloni appeared on good terms and the Italian leader said there had been no recriminations between them.

According to BBC, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has cancelled a planned trip to the US next week.

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The White House has yet to publicly respond to Meloni’s comment on Trump’s phone interview.

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