02/06/26 10:18:00
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02/06 10:16 CST Vance attends Olympic skating, then meets with Italian Prime
Minister Meloni
Vance attends Olympic skating, then meets with Italian Prime Minister Meloni
By MICHELLE L. PRICE and WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press
MILAN (AP) --- Vice President JD Vance met Friday with Italian Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni --- one of the Trump administration's closer allies in Europe
--- during his trip to Italy for the Olympic Games.
Vance is on a weeklong visit that combines sports and diplomacy, meeting with
Meloni at a time when U.S. relations with Europe have become increasingly
strained under President Donald Trump, who has shaken up the rules-based order
that has been at the center of U.S. foreign policy since World War II.
The vice president started his day at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, watching
the opening session of the three-day team figure skating competition with his
family and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Vance then headed to the Prefettura
di Milano, a Milan palace now used as a municipal building, for a bilateral
meeting with Meloni that lasted about an hour and was followed by a closed-door
lunch.
Meloni began her remarks in Italian. After a moment, she switched to English,
joking that Vance probably didn't understand what she had been saying.
Vance quipped that he'd been able to learn Italian since last coming to Italy.
He hadn't. His last visit was when he saw Meloni in Rome after meeting with
Pope Leo XIV in May.
"I was saying that I'm happy to have you here to have the occasion to talk
about our wonderful bilateral relation," Meloni said.
The prime minister said they'd discuss several topics of bilateral cooperation,
but also mentioned meeting at the Olympics, which she called "events that tell
about values that keep together Italy and the U.S." and "western civilization."
While Meloni was speaking, Tilman Fertitta, the U.S. ambassador to Italy,
walked in and greeted Vance, mentioning that, "It's hard to get around." The
security measures involved in staging the Olympics have meant traffic closures
and other logistical headaches.
Vance's office later released a statement saying he and Meloni also made a
private visit to the Pinacoteca di Brera art museum for about half an hour.
The vice president's office said in a statement that during the meeting with
the prime minster, she and Vance discussed the strength of bilateral relations
between the nations, the Olympics and mutual efforts to improve the business
and investment climate.
Meloni has cultivated a close relationship with Trump, visiting him at his
Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in early January 2025, even before he took office
for his second term. At the time, he called her a "fantastic woman" and the two
have since praised each other.
More recently, however, Meloni has sided with top U.S. allies in Europe in
opposing Trump's push to take control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory
of NATO ally Denmark.
During the short portion of the meeting where reporters were present, the two
leaders only exchanged pleasantries. Vance and Rubio did not answer shouted
questions about talks between the U.S. and Iran.
"In the spirit of the Olympics friendship, competition --- competition based on
rules --- and just coming together around shared values, we're very, very
thrilled to be here, and we'll have a great conversation about number of
topics," Vance told Meloni. He added that he'd been excited to go to the
Olympics in Milan "pretty much since I became vice president."
___
Weissert reported from Washington.
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