Italian Prime Minister Meloni meets with Trump at his resort in Florida by Reuters

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni headed to Florida to meet with President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday as the main European leader seeks to strengthen ties with Trump ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration.

Members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Meloni resort were greeted with applause after an introduction by the president-elect, according to videos shared by reporters and others on social media.

Her trip comes days before her meeting with US President Joe Biden during a visit to Rome from Thursday to January 12. Trump defeated Biden in the November elections and is preparing for his return to the White House.

While details of their meeting were not revealed, Meloni was planning to speak with Trump about Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade issues, the Middle East, and the plight of an Italian journalist detained in Tehran, according to Italian media reports.

Meloni’s office declined to comment on the reports.

She is seen as a potentially strong partner for Trump given her conservative credentials and the stability of the right-wing coalition she heads in Italy. It has also built a close relationship with billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help him win the election.

“This is very exciting. I’m here with a wonderful woman, the prime minister of Italy,” Trump told the Mar-a-Lago crowd, according to a media pool report. “It has really taken Europe by storm.”

Trump and Meloni then sat down to screen a documentary that questions the criminal investigations and legal scrutiny facing John Eastman, the former Trump lawyer who was central to Trump’s failed effort to overturn his 2020 election loss.

One of the biggest challenges facing Meloni is the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran on December 19.

Sala was arrested three days after Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa Airport on a US warrant for allegedly supplying parts for drones that Washington says were used in the 2023 attack that killed three US service members in Jordan. Iran denied involvement in the attack.

Iranian official media reported that the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Italian ambassador on Friday due to Abedini’s detention.

Meloni became the latest in a group of foreign leaders to visit Trump in Florida since the November 5 election. He met with Argentine President Javier Miley, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.