President Donald Trump’s trade diplomacy will overhaul globalization and trade for the first time since the second world war. No one has been spared, friends, allies, enemies and competitors have all felt the brunt in varying degrees as a huge reset looms globally. The White House has initiated only a handful of serious negotiations so far with Vietnam, India, South Korea and Japan prioritizing existing trade partners that are strategic to countering China.
Europe is undergoing its own trial by fire with a war at its doorstep, a volatile White House and serious doubts about the future of NATO. In this scenario, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni prepares to visit the US on the 17th of April. Meloni, known as the “Trump whisperer”, will be widely expected to try and negotiate a mutually acceptable plan for Europe and Italy. Meloni remains convinced that it is in Italy’s and Europe’s best interests to maintain and strengthen the transatlantic partnership which has been a bulwark of Europe’s post-World War II foreign policy.
While most European leaders, even those that do not back Meloni, hope that she will return with an acceptable deal, some like Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez have preferred to visit China in order to try and pacify Xi Jinping only to be asked to join it to counter “tariff bullying”. Curiously, the only country not affected by President Trump’s tariffs is Russia, which is already heavily sanctioned and with whom Trump is hoping to finalise a deal which will stop Russia’s war on Ukraine as well as receive Russia’s support to broker a deal in the Middle East. While engaging in tariff warfare, Trump has opened indirect negotiations with Iran in Oman and there is a strong diplomatic exchange with Russia to negotiate on a cessation of hostilities.
While Meloni prepares to visit the White House, her first visit after her presence at Trump’s inauguration, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani visited Delhi on 11-12th April. Tajani will visit Japan for the inauguration of Italy’s Pavilion at Expo Osaka. As his Prime Minister works on the transatlantic alliance, Tajani consolidates relations with India and Japan, two important allies which form a part of Italy’s Indo-Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific strategic depth. In 2021, Italy-India-Japan launched a trilateral to encourage Indo-Pacific security and economic stability. Italy and Japan have a longstanding strategic alliance.
Tajani’s bilateral visit to Delhi was immensely successful. He also called on President Droupadi Murmu. This is an honor usually reserved for heads of government. This shows how much importance, the Indian side placed on the India-Italy ties and Tajani’s visit.
The bilateral visit included the India-Italy Business, Science and Technology Forum where over 400 companies gathered under the leadership of Ministers Tajani, S. Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal and Anna Maria Bernini to underline cooperation in Industry 4.0, Innovation, Cleantech and Infrastructure. Italy also announced the start of an innovation hub at its consulate in Bangalore as well as a space attaché who would join the Embassy in Delhi. Tajani was accompanied by Anna Maria Bernini, Italy’s Minister of Education, underlining a new chapter in cooperation in education and research, initiating mutual recognition of educational credentials and giving impetus to joint research projects.
Apart from trade and innovation, Italy’s new Ambassador to India Antonio Bartoli, also focused on people to people, cultural and sport diplomacy. Ministers Tajani and Jaishankar also visited the painting of Caravaggio, the 17th century Italian artist at the Italian Cultural Centre and an exhibition of Roman mosaics and Italian textiles was inaugurated during the visit. The ancient links between Rome and India are not just being spoken about but also being demonstrated as with India held in early March in Delhi, exhibiting Italy’s ancient wine culture.
While Tajani announced a reciprocal Trade summit in Brescia, the most important announcement was probably an India-Middle East-Europe Economic corridor (IMEC) summit in Trieste in the second half of 2025. Italy was one of the founding signatories of IMEC at the G20 summit in New Delhi but has lagged behind since. With the recent appointment of veteran diplomat Francesco Maria Talò as its special Envoy, this summit will bring together ministers of all IMEC countries (US, India, Israel, Italy, UAE, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany and EU) in Trieste which is a natural choice for IMEC to reach the industrial heart of Europe. Ambassador Talò was the diplomatic advisor to Prime Minister Meloni during her trip to India for G20, another demonstration of the importance Italy places on IMEC.
IMEC is also key for Europe now as India’s role as a connector with ASEAN countries gains further importance. The recent Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit shows immense potential that India will become a hub for trade between Europe-Middle East-Bay of Bengal-ASEAN. IMEC towards the west and new trade routes towards the east under the umbrella of BIMSTEC, create stability, provide protection and shortening trade routes for like-minded partners.
Tajani’s visit has underlined that the Meloni government supports India’s rise as a pillar of the confluence of seas both in the Indo-Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific as a hub for trade and leadership of the global south. Italy considers India a true ally and the “Melodi” partnership is here to stay.
True to its ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, Bharat, that is India, should drop duties and tariffs on select goods which will be a goodwill gesture to Italy and Europe in a truly volatile chapter in geopolitics. In an age where “the only certainty is uncertainty”, India could be that certainty, that lighthouse which guides its allies to safety.
(The writer is the Chief Representative for Italy of the Indian Chamber of Commerce. He is an Italian entrepreneur and journalist of Indian origin and the founder of the Indo-Mediterranean Initiative (cnky.in).
(The Opinion expressed in the above article are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect the IANS’ views)
