The expert suggested the continuation of import duties to the United States after Meloni's visit

The visit of Italian Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni to the United States and the meeting with US President Donald Trump on April 17 is an indicator that the European Union has not chosen an approach to it over the past few months after the arrival of the new American administration, said Sergey Shein, senior researcher at the Central Research Institute of Higher School of Economics.

Global response: a third of the global economy has imposed duties against the United States

The United States is opposed by China and the EU, but not everyone there is ready for confrontation.

"Meloni works closely with Ursula von der Leyen. The issue of duties is something that primarily concerns the head of the European Commission. But she herself, apparently, is not very pleasant to Trump. Meloni is really the best option for establishing a dialogue on tariffs here. She's right-wing and from the mainstream. She is not Macron or Scholz, who are very ideologically different from Trump. The likely outcome of the dialogue is not to escalate further. I think the current 10% duties will remain in place. But she will try to remove the trade war with the EU from the agenda," Shein told Izvestia.

But even Meloni's partial success, according to the expert, will depend on whether she succeeds in convincing Trump to consider the EU as a partner rather than a competitor. In the meantime, the White House's rhetoric remains harsh.

Immediately after the Italian Prime Minister's visit, US Vice President Jay Dee Vance will leave for Rome for the Easter holidays. The possible purpose of his visit is to form Trump's real allies in Europe from the European far—right, Shein believes. According to the expert, the right is now strong in Europe one way or another, despite the fact that "the mainstream does everything it can to keep them out of power."

"The Trump administration has an interest in building a dialogue with such an "opposition" in the hope that this will be the right bet for communicating with the Europeans," he said.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Rome mediator: Europe is trying to establish contact with the Trump administration