Italy caught between NATO tensions and US tariff threats as EU seeks clarity

Italy has been placed at the centre of two converging transatlantic pressures this week, as President Donald Trump singled out the country among European allies for criticism at the NATO summit in Ankara, and the European Union formally questioned the rationale behind new US tariffs on the bloc.

According to a Time magazine analysis of the summit, published on Friday, Trump used his first press conference in Ankara to single out “the big European allies — France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom — for their lack of support over Iran”. He also reiterated a demand that Greenland, a Danish territory, be ceded to American control, and complained about allied defence spending, the report said.

The timing of the pressure is particularly delicate for Rome. Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest economy, runs a large public debt and is heavily reliant on exports to the United States, its second-largest non-EU trading partner after Switzerland. Any escalation in tariff disputes could hit key Italian sectors such as machinery, pharmaceuticals, and luxury goods.

The Time report, which draws on interviews with NATO officials and diplomats, describes how the alliance is “quietly reinventing itself” to operate under a second Trump administration, with internal reforms aimed at bypassing potential White House hostility. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is said to be pushing forward a new funding model and streamlining command structures, in part as a reaction to Trump’s repeated threats to reduce US engagement.

Italy currently meets the NATO guideline of spending 2 percent of GDP on defence, a target it reached in 2025 after years of incremental increases. The Italian government has signalled it will continue to raise spending, but any new demands from Washington for a steeper increase would put pressure on a budget already stretched by high debt servicing costs and an ageing population.

Separately, the European Union is seeking a formal explanation from Washington over the rationale for new tariffs that were announced earlier this month. Reuters reported on Friday that European Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas questioned the US rationale during an interview on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Manila, and called for clarification. The tariffs, which cover a broad range of industrial and consumer goods, have raised concerns across the bloc, particularly in export-oriented member states such as Italy.

The simultaneous pressures from Washington on both security and trade fronts place Italy in an awkward position. As a founding member of both NATO and the European Union, Rome must balance its traditional Atlanticist stance with the EU’s push for strategic autonomy. Italian diplomats have privately expressed concern that Trump’s transactional approach could force member states to choose between deeper European integration and accommodating US demands.

The timing of the summit and the tariff dispute also comes as Italy undergoes a political transition. The reappointment of Roberto Mancini as national football manager, reported by the BBC on Tuesday, is a domestic distraction, but the government’s attention is increasingly focused on foreign policy challenges. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has sought to maintain close ties with Washington while also advocating for a stronger European defence pillar, a position that may become harder to sustain if Trump’s criticism escalates.

According to the Time analysis, Trump’s public complaints mask a deeper process within NATO: member states are quietly building redundancies into the alliance’s structure, preparing for a scenario in which the United States reduces its commitment. For Italy, this raises fundamental questions about the future of the US military presence in the Mediterranean, including the naval base in Naples and the air base in Sigonella, Sicily, as well as the US military communications system (MUOS) that has recently sparked protests in rural Sicily.