Decoding the news. As Giorgia Meloni is in Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump, we asked James Carafano, a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges, to decode the Italian leader’s message: Meloni could be the lynchpin linking the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific spheres.
- Mr Carafano is Senior Counselor to the President and E.W. Richardson Fellow of the Heritage Foundation, a major US conservative think tank.
- “Prime Minister Meloni is one of the few leaders today who can look beyond petty political squabbles and embrace a truly transformative global vision,” Carafano said.
- He added that that vision is about creating “free and open spaces”—interconnected geostrategic theatres in which Italy plays a pivotal role.
Free and open spaces. “President Trump isn’t an isolationist or an imperialist. He’s not looking to revive a Cold War world split between superpowers,” said the expert.
- Instead, the goal is to foster “free and open spaces” through physical and digital corridors—stretching from northern Europe to central Asia, the Mediterranean to the Middle East, and even parts of Africa to the Indo-Pacific.
- The Belt and Road Initiative was about networks that served China. Free and open spaces benefit everyone, including the US. That’s the win-win world Trump is promoting.”
IMEC, 3SI, and Italy. Carafano’s comments come as the US also refocuses on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a flagship infrastructure initiative designed around the Indo-Mediterranean concept.
- Italy is uniquely positioned to connect IMEC with the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) and Enlarged Mediterranean trade routes.
- Carafano frames this not simply as a China-containment strategy but as a global effort to empower national sovereignty through strategic connectivity.
Yes, but… the expert is blunt about the stakes as any European leader deepening ties with China today is, in his words, “morally adrift.”
- “Let’s be clear,” he said, “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would not have been sustainable without China’s green light and material support. Any leader ignoring this fact lacks a moral centre.”
- He applauded Meloni’s decision not to renew the memorandum of understanding with China on the Belt and Road Initiative, calling the flagship project launched by Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2014 “just a new form of imperialism.”
Zoom in. Carafano sharply contrasts the values and practices of the US and China.
- “There is no moral equivalence between China at its best and America at its worst,” he argued.
- “Dancing with China is a tango with trouble.”
Between the lines. For Carafano, reducing strategic dependencies on China is ethical and economically sound.
- “There are real alternatives. China should be the lender, partner, or supplier of last resort,” he noted.
- In his view, Trump’s tariffs are not as isolationist but as opening a path to fairer, more reciprocal trade: “Deals that bring prosperity to America and its partners.”
The big picture. Meloni has championed a pragmatic approach to international affairs—seeking what she calls “smart compromises” that benefit all sides.
- “By endorsing this philosophy openly as a leading European figure,” Carafano says, “she sets a courageous example for Brussels and beyond. Repeating this message in Washington not only strengthens her US ties but also elevates her status in Europe.”
What we’re watching. In Carafano’s eyes, Meloni embodies a rare kind of leadership that rises above the political fray and zero-sum games.
- “Few leaders today can move past infighting, the winner-takes-all mentality, and strategic freeloading,” he says. “Meloni is one. Trump is another. That’s why she’s welcome in Washington.”
- “Other leaders should follow her lead. Instead of trying to tear down the transatlantic community, they should recognize the realistic, values-based alternative being offered—and seize it.”
