Angelica Krystle Donati, President of ANCE Giovani spoke to CGTN Europe about the meeting between Meloni and Trump, emphasizing that Prime Minister Meloni is committed to acting as a bridge for Europe, not pushing Italy's interests unilaterally.
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00Well, let's talk now to Angelica Cristal Donati, President of ANCI, the Italian Property Developers Association.
00:09Angelica, welcome. Good to see you. Let's just pick up on that interview there with the United States.
00:14Some people might worry about Maloney's friendship with Mr. Trump.
00:18Do you think that's going to be a problem in the EU among her other European leaders
00:22who might perceive that this is Italy's mission rather than the EU's mission?
00:30Well, I think President Maloney has been very clear that she is not there to unilaterally push Italy's interests,
00:39but to be a spokesperson for Europe and that the correct person for a dialogue on trade is President von der Leyen.
00:51So I would say she's there to act as a bridge and trade negotiations will and must happen with the European Union,
00:57which is the governing body for these matters. Any kind of dialogue is good.
01:05Other European leaders have gone to Washington since President Trump has been elected.
01:11So I don't think it should be seen as or it shouldn't be a reason for European unity to break.
01:17Also, because right now the most central and key point that we must all as Europeans remember is that we're stronger and better together.
01:25Europe is the U.S.'s biggest trading partner and nobody would benefit from a fragmentation of the union.
01:32Well, no union member will benefit from that.
01:34And unilateral deals, whilst perhaps tempting in the short term, wouldn't be beneficial in the long term.
01:40There really is a lot riding on this Maloney-Trump meeting, isn't there?
01:44I mean, sitting in Rome, how do you assess the trade turbulence that we've seen in EU-U.S. trade?
01:55Well, as I said, Europe is America's biggest trading partner and vice versa.
02:03Europe is a net exporter of goods to the U.S.
02:08The U.S. is a net exporter of services to Europe.
02:11Both continents have benefited massively from this long term, very strong alliance that was forged over the past 80 years.
02:20So obviously this turbulence was obviously not totally unexpected because President Trump was pretty vocal about his desire to impose tariffs during his campaign.
02:30But it's definitely a lose-lose situation for everybody involved.
02:35How should Italian businesses respond to U.S. tariffs?
02:39I mean, what would Italian businesses like to see perhaps coming out of this White House meeting?
02:46Well, like I said, I don't think anything specific will come out of this White House meeting other than better dialogue and the opening of a negotiating table that the European Union has been trying to activate since the tariffs were announced.
03:05And we shouldn't forget as well that the European Commission, as far back as I think February 19th, had already offered zero, zero, let's say zero, zero tariffs between the U.S. and the EU.
03:20Italian businesses are particularly vulnerable because, as you know, Italy is one of three European countries with a large trade surplus towards the U.S.
03:31The other two are Ireland and Germany.
03:34Obviously, Italian food manufacturers, Italian luxury goods manufacturers are at risk.
03:41The Italian government has already looked at measures to support exporting companies, Italian exporters, over the coming weeks and months.
03:50But obviously, I think we all hope that the common sense solution that the European Union has already put on the table will be accepted, that there is no need to use the proverbial bazooka that is in Ursula von der Leyen's back pocket, and that the flow of trade can continue as before.
04:10And why not to forge even stronger trade ties with the United States?
04:15Angelica, Crystal, Donati in Rome, thank you very much indeed for joining us.
04:20Thank you very much.