Italy’s Meloni hopes to attend Trump’s inauguration as she downplays his Greenland, Panama comments

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni doubts Trump's military intentions, sees his comments as a warning to global players, not territorial ambitions.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday (January 9, 2025) that she didn't believe President-elect Donald Trump actually intends to use military force to seize control of Greenland or the Panama Canal, saying she read his comments more as a warning to China and other global players to keep their hands off such strategically important interests.

“I think we can exclude that the United States in the coming years will try to use force to annex territory that interests it,” said Ms. Meloni, who travelled last weekend to visit Mr. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate and intends to attend his inauguration.

Rather, she said, Mr. Trump's comments were “a message to some other big global players more than any hostile claim over these countries.”

She identified increased “Chinese protagonism” in the commercially important Panama Canal and resource-rich Greenland as being behind Trump's warning, and said she interpreted his words as part of a “long-distance debate between great powers.” Meloni was speaking at an annual news conference during which she was peppered with questions about her relations with Trump and Elon Musk. She confirmed she hoped to attend Trump's inauguration Jan. 20, but was checking her agenda before confirming her presence.

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“If I can I will gladly participate,” she said.

Mr. Trump on Tuesday (January 7, 2025) said he wouldn't rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland which he declared to be vital to American national security.