From Meloni to Macron: How Trump’s relationships with Europe’s leaders fell apart one by one

From Meloni to Macron: How Trump’s relationships with Europe’s leaders fell apart one by one

 

Trump’s seemingly off-hand remarks about the Italian prime minister have sparked a diplomatic spat. But it is not the first time the mercurial leader has rubbed world leaders the wrong way, Maira Butt reports

 

Sunday 21 June 2026 09:51 BST

 

Donald Trump has sparked an international spat with Italy, after he was accused of “serious and offensive” remarks about prime minister Giorgia Meloni.

 

Deputy prime minister Antonio Tajani cancelled a scheduled trip to the US over the comments claiming that they “offend all of Italy”.

 

The bizarre dispute appears to have started with claims Meloni wanted to take a picture with the US leader, before spiralling into personal attacks shared on social media.

 

But this is far from the first time that Trump has rubbed world leaders the wrong way.

 

The American president has spent much of his second term in office criticising allies like Nato and the European Union on a range of issues from a perceived lack of military support, defence spending, his designs on Greenland and tariffs.

 

According to a transcript by Italian channel La7, Trump is reported to have said that Meloni “wanted a picture with me so badly” and that he agreed only because he “felt sorry for her” when the pair met at the G7 summit in the French Alps this week.

 

He is also reported to have said that the Italian prime minister may be “happy that I talked to her, I didn’t have to talk to her”.

 

Meloni response was that Trump’s account was “made up”, adding: “Neither I nor Italy ever beg”.

 

“I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way with his own allies,” the right-wing leader said in a video posted on X in response to the report.

 

“I can only say that it’s a pity he doesn’t show the same determination with enemies of the West, with enemies of the United States, with leaders with whom, instead, he is far more accommodating.”

 

Trump doubled down on Saturday, claiming Meloni “wanted to be friends to get her numbers up”, referring to her polling.

 

“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,@ the president posted on Truth Social.

 

“She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon (But so did NATO, for that matter!).”

 

The pair had appeared cordial at the meeting in France but it is not the first time that the US leader has made headline-grabbing remarks about Meloni.

 

“We have a woman – a young woman who is… I’m not allowed to say it because usually it’s the end of your political career if you say it,” he said at a peace summit in Egypt in October. “She's a beautiful young woman.”

 

Trump has a long history of tensions with French president Emmanuel Macron. When the pair first met in 2017, they held each other’s hands so firmly and for so long that the exchange was dubbed the “handshake wars” by media.

 

Despite a brief period of cordiality branded “le bromance” by commentators, the good feelings quickly fizzled. Macron called Trump’s “America First” policy “insane” and Nato being “brain dead” for withdrawing US troops from Syria.

 

Trump hit out at the comments as “very, very nasty”, “insulting” and “disrespectful”. He later toned this down by saying that the US and France had “done a lot of good things together as partners.”

 

Earlier this year, he mocked the French leader’s “beautiful sunglasses” when Macron sported eye-catching aviators at the Davos conference, asking: “What the hell happened?”

 

Weeks later Trump mocked Macron in perhaps his lowest blow yet, by saying he is treated “extremely badly” by his wife Brigitte.

 

“I called up France, Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly and he’s still recovering from the right to the jaw,” Trump said, seemingly referring to Macron being pushed in the face by his wife during an incident on a plane in Vietnam. The French president said that the comments were neither “elegant” nor “up to standard”.

 

Later, Macron said in response to questions about the Iran war: “This is not a show. We are talking about war and peace and the lives of men and women," on a state visit to South Korea.

 

"When you want to be serious you don't say every day the opposite of what you said the day before. And maybe you shouldn't be speaking every day. You should just let things quieten down.”

 

The pair’s rollercoaster relationship appeared to have been on more amicable terms this week, however, as Trump made a visit to the palace of Versailles after the G7 summit.

 

German chancellor Merz presented Trump with a special football shirt at the G7 summit this week, which appeared to please the president.

 

The gesture may have been something of an olive branch after Merz said in April that the US was being “humiliated” by Iran at the negotiation table, while Trump complained that the chancellor was doing a “terrible job” in Germany and threatened to withdraw troops from the country.

 

Merz later insisted that there had been “no connection” between the US threat to pull troops and his comments on Iran.

 

Trump said that the chancellor should spend “more time fixing his broken Country…and less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat”.

 

The chancellor has simultaneously advocated for working closely with the US but also achieving greater European independence from America.

 

Shortly before stepping into office last year he had declared: “My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” alleging that Trump’s government “does not care much about the fate of Europe” in February 2025.

 

In June last year, the pair had an awkward interaction when Trump said that “D-Day was not a pleasant day for you [Germany]” in an apparent wisecrack.

 

The chancellor began to reply that it was “not a pleasant day” before stopping himself and trying to explain the significance of the day.

 

“In the long run, Mr President, this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship,” he said.

 

Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez has perhaps been the most ardent critic of the US and Israel when it comes to their military actions.

 

Sanchez accused Trump of “playing Russian Roulette” with millions of lives over the war with Iran.

 

“We are not going to be complicit in something that is bad for the world and is also contrary to our values and interests, just out of fear of reprisals from someone,” Sanchez said in March.

 

He clearly condemned the conflict as an “unjustified and dangerous military intervention that is outside international law”, later branding it “absurd, cruel and illegal”.

 

In March Trump threatened “to cut off all trade with Spain” after the country refused access to its military bases.

 

Despite Spain’s refusal, Trump said “we could use their base if we want”, referencing two military bases in southern Spain that the US and Spain share, but which remain under Spanish command.

 

“We could just fly in and use it,” Trump said. “Nobody’s going to tell us not to use it, but we don’t have to.”

 

He told reporters during a White House meeting with Merz that Spain “has been terrible”, adding he had told Treasury secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all dealings” with Madrid.

 

“We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he added.

 

Trump has previously suggested expelling Spain from Nato over what he perceived as a lack of commitment to the alliance.

 

“You people [European leaders] are gonna have to start speaking to Spain,” he told Finnish president Alexander Stubb at the Oval office in October 2025. “You have to call them and find why are they are a laggard. Maybe we should throw them out of Nato.”

 

Formerly known as the “Trump whisperer”, British prime minister Starmer has also faced the president’s ire in a series of spats over the last year.

 

The US leader said that the special relationship between the US and the UK was “not what it was”, claiming Starmer was “not doing enough” to support the US in its operations in Iran, particularly to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

 

Throughout his tenure he has criticised Starmer’s immigration policy and accused him of “windmilling the country to death” for his policy on wind turbines.

 

After Trump threatened to wipe out a “whole civilisation” in reference to Iran shortly after the war started, Starmer told ITV’s Robert Peston: “Let me be really clear about this: they are not words I would use, ever use, because I come at this with our British values and principles.”

 

He added: “It is very important that I’m clear that for the United Kingdom, we have our principles, we have our values. We will be guided by them in everything that we do. That’s why I’ve said [it], and obviously it’s caused a degree of criticism and pressure in the last few weeks.”

 

Starmer went so far as to deny he was being snubbed by Trump when the pair appeared at the G7, after it emerged they no bilateral meetings planned.