Vox party leader Santiago Abascal has stirred the pot by claiming that Italy will be the sole European Union country spared from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. Why? According to Abascal, it all boils down to Trump’s personal fondness for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Speaking at a Vox party event on March 16, Abascal suggested that Meloni’s advantage lies in her refusal to become an adversary of the U.S. leader. “The only European country that won’t face tariffs is Italy because Meloni hasn’t positioned herself as an opponent to Trump,” he remarked.
Abascal warned that taking an anti-Trump stance could backfire on EU leaders, making it even harder to negotiate with Washington. He took a jab at Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, accusing them of turning opposition to Trump into a political strategy. “That’s a colossal mistake,” he said.
Sánchez, for his part, has vowed to fight back against what he sees as “unjust” tariffs that could spell trouble for the EU’s economy. But despite his alignment with Trump on key conservative values, Abascal made it clear that Vox opposes the tariffs. “You won’t find a single Vox member endorsing them. In fact, I’ve said in Spain and even in Washington that we don’t want these tariffs,” he stated.
Abascal’s stance reflects a broader split among right-wing politicians in Europe. Danish MEP Anders Vistisen has also voiced concern, arguing that the EU must focus on economic self-reliance instead of aligning itself too closely with American politics. “Even if we share some common ground with Trump’s movement on issues like migration and culture, that doesn’t mean we should become Europe’s version of MAGA,” Vistisen said in a recent interview.
With Trump’s tariffs looming over the EU, leaders are scrambling to figure out their next move—but for now, it seems Italy may be the only one dodging the storm.
