Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on April 17 to discuss the tariffs that he has slapped on European Union imports, her office said on Tuesday.
The 27-nation bloc faces 25% import tariffs on steel and aluminium and cars, and broader tariffs of 20% from Wednesday for almost all other goods under Trump's policy to hit countries he says impose high barriers to U.S. imports.
Meloni told Italian business leaders that she supported an offer made by the European Commission to introduce a "zero-for-zero" tariff deal to avert a trade war with the United States.
"This is the negotiation that must see us all committed at all levels, which sees us committed and which commits me as I will be in Washington next April 17," Meloni said in a speech released by her staff.
A nationalist with deep admiration for Trump, Meloni is battling to reconcile the growing gulf between her ideological instincts, which lie with Washington, and Italy's strategic ties to the European Union, analysts say.
She is under pressure also to defend Italy's export-driven industry, which last year ran a 40-billion-euro ($43.75-billion)trade surplus with the United States -- the third-largest in the European Union after Germany and Ireland.
Italy's exports to the U.S. are worth 10% of total exports.
"I think (tariffs) are an absolutely wrong decision on the part of the Trump administration. The economies of Western nations are strongly interconnected. Such hard-hitting protectionist policies will end up hurting Europe as much as the U.S.," Meloni said.
EU FUNDS
Meloni said her government would discuss with the European Union alternative ways to use already allocated EU funds to offset the expected negative impact of the tariffs.
"We are committed to use all available resources, starting with those that do not have an impact on public finances," she said.
With no extra-borrowing currently foreseen, she said some 14 billion euros could come from an overhaul of Italy's EU-backed post-COVID recovery plan, while an additional 11 billion would stem from EU regional development funds.
A further 7 billion euros were expected to be deployed using EU funds aimed at addressing climate change.
The government is preparing to cut its economic growth estimates for both this year and next amid mounting uncertainty caused by the U.S. tariffs, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
Italy's multi-year budget framework, due to be unveiled on Wednesday, forecasts gross domestic product in the euro zone's third largest economy to grow by 0.6% this year, down from a 1.2% target made last September, the sources said. Next year, GDP was seen at +0.8%, down from the previous +1.1% target.
($1 = 0.9142 euros)
