Italy PM Meloni to host US VP Vance on April 18: office

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will host US Vice-President JD Vance in Rome on April 18, a day after she visits US President Donald Trump in Washington, her office said on Sunday.

Vance is a convert to Catholicism and according to Italian media he will also visit the Vatican on what is Good Friday ahead of Easter Sunday, the most holy celebration in the religion.

The meetings come as Trump’s slew of tariffs – which he has since paused – has caused chaos across the world’s stock markets while leaving the United States’ traditional allies scrambling for answers.

Meloni, head of the post-fascist brothers of Italy party, will fly back and forth across the Atlantic within 48 hours to meet both the US president and his vice president.

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Vance’s visit comes three weeks after Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini – head of the rival far-right League party – held a telephone conversation with Trump’s deputy.

A fortnight ago, Meloni declared herself in agreement with Vance’s criticism of Europe as a continent where freedom of speech and democracy are both in retreat.

On the subject of Meloni’s visit to Washington, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Sunday that “transatlantic relations are a priority of our foreign policy”.