The head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and European Council chief António Costa will both attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome on Saturday, April 26th, paving the way for a possible meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Von der Leyen has yet to meet Trump since his re-election, while Meloni recently visited Washington to hold bilateral talks with the U.S. president, as well as to act as a mediator between the U.S. and the EU on the trade war over tariffs.
The Italian prime minister has previously suggested an EU-U.S. summit, but a trilateral meeting between Meloni, Trump, and von der Leyen is perhaps the most likely.
The EU, under von der Leyen’s faltering leadership, has floundered in its response to Trump’s tariffs. Its retaliatory 25% tariffs on $23.8 billion of U.S. exports, paused for 90 days, reveal a bloc more reactive than proactive.
