President Meloni meets with business associations to discuss tariffs

The Government received representatives from different industry sectors at Palazzo Chigi today to discuss the tariffs recently introduced by the United States. The meetings, convened and chaired by President of the Council of Ministers Giorgia Meloni, were attended, on behalf of the Government, by the Vice-Presidents of the Council of Ministers, Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini (via video link), Ministers Giancarlo Giorgetti, Adolfo Urso, Tommaso Foti and Francesco Lollobrigida, and Undersecretaries of State to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers Alfredo Mantovano and Giovanbattista Fazzolari.

The first meeting was attended by representatives from Confindustria and the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, after which representatives from Confapi, CNA, Confimi Industria, Confimprese Italia, Legacoop, Confartigianato, Conflavoro, Confcommercio, Confesercenti and Casartigiani were received, followed by the agri-food industry associations Coldiretti, Confagricoltura, Confcooperative, CIA-Agricoltori Italiani, Copagri, Assolatte, Federvini, Unione Italiana Vini, Origin Italia, Federalimentare and Filiera Italia. The Italian Trade and Investment Agency also participated in today's meetings.

During the discussions, President Meloni and the Ministers present outlined the proposals under consideration to support the production chains that could be the hardest hit by the imposition of tariffs. The Government and industry sector representatives agreed on the need to avert a trade war between the United States and the EU and to avoid emotional reactions which could amplify the effects of the trade measures in question. In this regard, President Meloni recalled that the challenges Italy intends to explore include removing reciprocal tariffs on existing industrial products with the 'zero-for-zero' approach.

There was a significant focus on listening to the proposals put forward by the business representatives, with the shared awareness that the challenge being faced is complex and requires the active and responsible engagement of all players involved.

For this purpose, President Meloni proposed an agreement to the industry sectors to act together in response to the delicate economic situation and to establish working groups to identify a series of measures to support the competitiveness of Italy's entrepreneurial fabric, to go alongside the initiatives the Government intends to pursue at European level. Today's discussions were held following yesterday's meeting of the working group established by President Meloni to analyse the repercussions of the situation on the Italian economy.