Donald Trump barely touched down at the NATO summit before picking a fight with one of the few European leaders who has generally been considered a political ally.
Speaking to reporters after arriving in Ankara, Turkey, the president publicly criticized Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after she refused to support his military campaign against Iran.
The public jab marked another dramatic turn in what had once been viewed as one of Trump’s strongest relationships with a conservative European leader.
“I think she made a mistake. She just wasn’t there for us, and I wasn’t happy about that,” Trump said while meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The complaint stemmed from Italy’s refusal to fully back Trump’s military action against Iran.
While Meloni stopped short of condemning the strikes, Italy joined other European allies in pushing for diplomacy rather than publicly endorsing the U.S. operation—a position that apparently didn’t sit well with Trump.
The president’s latest criticism came just days after he mocked Meloni on social media by reposting a meme showing the Italian leader looking up at him with the caption: “Restraining Order Needed.”
When reporters asked him to explain the post, Trump insisted he didn’t create it, but he made little effort to walk back the message.
Instead, he suggested Meloni had let him down.
“I didn’t put a heavy press on her, but she refused to get involved,” Trump said.
The exchange is the latest chapter in an increasingly awkward feud between two leaders who once appeared politically aligned.
Meloni has largely avoided publicly criticizing Trump since his return to the White House. She has visited Washington, praised some of his diplomatic efforts, and maintained generally friendly relations with his administration.
But that goodwill appears to have evaporated after Italy declined to fall in line behind Trump’s Iran policy.
The tensions began escalating after last month’s G7 summit, when Trump claimed Meloni had “begged” him for a photograph.
Meloni quickly fired back.
“Italy and I do not beg,” she wrote on social media, flatly rejecting Trump’s version of events.
The dispute didn’t end there.
Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, later canceled a planned trip to Washington, reportedly arguing that Trump’s comments had insulted the Italian people.
The diplomatic fallout also reportedly derailed a U.S.-Italy business and innovation forum scheduled to take place in Miami, frustrating officials from both countries who had spent months organizing the event.
According to reports, even some administration officials privately blamed Trump for creating an unnecessary international dispute.
“The president couldn’t keep his mouth shut,” one frustrated source told reporters.
Trump’s criticism of Meloni came amid another round of attacks on America’s NATO allies.
He again questioned whether alliance members would stand with the United States during a military conflict, arguing that America’s partners failed to support his administration during the Iran operation.
“We’ve invested trillions of dollars in NATO,” Trump said. “You’d think that they would be very willing to do something to help us, and they really didn’t.”
He went on to suggest he had deliberately used the Iran conflict as a test of America’s allies.
“In a way, I was testing people,” Trump said. “I was testing to see whether or not they’d be there.”
Trump also revived his long-running claim that Greenland should belong to the United States rather than Denmark, another comment likely to inflame tensions with European allies gathered for the summit.
Instead of arriving at NATO focused on strengthening alliances, Trump once again found himself criticizing allies, reopening old disputes, and creating new ones.
For an alliance built on cooperation, it was an eventful first day.
