Europe's 'fantastic woman': Can Giorgia Meloni sway Donald Trump on tariffs?

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

67% : Now, European leaders are counting on Meloni -- a "fantastic woman", according to Trump -- to persuade the US president to hold back on his threat to hit the EU with tariffs to force it to spend more on defence and American energy.
64% : "By having the guts to go to Trump she expressed real leadership and effectiveness and this was absorbed by public opinion," said Lorenzo Pregliasco, founder of YouTrend, an Italian pollster.Brothers of Italy has long cultivated ties with US Republicans and the Trump world, with Meloni attending the National Prayer Breakfast during the first Trump presidency.
64% : "That will weaken the EU, but a weak EU is something that Trump wants."
55% : "It's unclear how much interest Trump has in cultivating a real relationship with Europe," Irdi said.
55% : He and Meloni have since forged strong personal and political ties, with her government pursuing negotiations with his SpaceX company for secure military communications.
52% : Stefano Stefanini, Italy's former ambassador to Nato, said that in the months ahead, Meloni could probably play a "useful softening role" in her talks with Trump on Ukraine and security, including trying to persuade him to accept a more gradual increase in defence spending.
47% : and she might get away with it convincing Trump that Italy -- as well as other European countries -- are moving towards the target gradually."
44% : The same European establishment that once shunned Meloni for being a dangerous extremist now seems to have pinned its hopes on her as its "communication channel" to Trump, Orsina said.
38% : "But Meloni could still struggle to act as Europe's interlocutor with Trump, said Beniamino Irdi, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
27% : "Europe is in a state of terrible weakness and is very afraid to lose the protection of the United States, and very afraid that Trump can do something that is very damaging to Europe," said Giovanni Orsina, a political scientist at Rome's Luiss University.
25% : Trump has said Nato's new spending target should be 5 per cent of GDP, a difficult goal for countries such as Italy, France and Germany whose economies are barely growing and which are struggling to rein in public spending and debt.
24% : Beyond the potential trade war, European leaders fear Trump could strike a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine's fate without any heed to the continent's security concerns and abandon Nato allies who fail to increase defence spending.

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