Newly inaugurated Pope Leo talks Ukraine with Zelenskyy – DW – 05/18/2025

US Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that Europe remains “an important ally” despite recent trade tensions in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Vance met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome after the Pope’s inaugural Mass.

The US vice president said he hoped the talks — the first time high-level leaders from the US and EU have met since Trump introduced his tariffs this year — would pave the way for “long-term trade negotiations and some long-term trade advantages between both Europe and the United States.”

The Trump administration has slapped a range of import taxes on European nations, including a 25% tariff on imports of steel, aluminium and cars, as well as a “universal”, baseline 10% tariff, which applies to almost all countries. 

The EU will face so-called “reciprocal” tariffs of 20% if trade talks fail to yield a deal during a 90-day pause Trump announced last month.

“I’ve said repeatedly that I think Europe is an important ally of the United States, the individual countries within Europe are important allies of the United States,” Vance said at the start of the meeting when the cameras were still rolling.

“But of course we have some disagreements, as friends sometimes do, on issues like trade, and we also have many agreements and many things that we can work on together, and I’m looking forward to this conversation,” he added.

Von der Leyen, meanwhile, lauded the “very special and very close” EU-US relations, which she said was the largest in the world and is valued at over $1.5 trillion (€1.34 trillion) per year.

She said the two sides had outlined topics for future talks on a trade deal and exchanged documents that would allow technical discussions to begin.

“Everybody knows that the devil is in the detail[s], but what unites us is that at the end, we want together to have a good deal for both sides,” she added.

Meloni, meanwhile, said she was optimistic the talks would represent a “new beginning” in EU-US relations, which she said were vital for a “strong West, for our civilization.”

The right-wing populist Meloni, who enjoys a good relationship with Donald Trump, has tried to position herself as a possible bridge between Brussels and Washington.