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US-EU tariffs, decisive week: Meloni and Giorgetti in Washington to negotiate

After Trump’s tariff freeze, Brussels launches negotiations with Washington. Italy, a strategic bridge in transatlantic relations, is also in the field

A decisive week for the future of trade relations between the European Union and the United States. After the 90-day freeze on the duties introduced by US President Donald Trump, with 20% tariffs on European products, official negotiations kick off today in Washington. Representing Brussels will be Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, in a crucial meeting with the US administration.

‘Let’s see how the negotiations will go,’ said EU Commission spokesman Olof Gill, ’but all options remain on the table if there are no concrete results.

Meloni Thursday at Trump’s, Vance expected in Rome
The confrontation between Brussels and Washington will have a key moment on Thursday 17 April, when Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will meet Donald Trump in the US capital. The following day, his deputy J.D. Vance will be received at Palazzo Chigi to continue the bilateral dialogue.

Giorgetti: ‘Not only duties, we need a synthesis of interests’
Also emphasising the complexity of the dossier was Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, who spoke remotely during a meeting of the Lega’s political school. ‘National interests push in different directions. A correct compromise will be needed,’ he said. Giorgetti will in turn be in Washington next week to meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Europe under pressure between tariffs, currencies and taxation
Besides tariffs, the confrontation touches on broader issues. ‘There is an open question on international taxation,’ Giorgetti recalled, ‘such as the global minimum tax, which the Trump administration has shelved, and the web tax, which is already active in Italy.

The minister also raised the issue of the value of currencies as a form of ‘implicit duty’ that should not be underestimated: ‘The monetary policy of the Fed and the ECB affects competitiveness. Attention is also needed on this’.

A new global economic order?
‘The current phase resembles the labour pains of a childbirth: we are facing the birth of a new global system,’ said Giorgetti, emphasising that the rules of globalisation are now obsolete. ‘The WTO has already been dead for years,’ he added, ‘and today there is talk of a return to mercantilism. But it is clear that the shake-up initiated by the United States will redesign the world economic order’.

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