Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and US Vice president JD Vance are seen on the photho, that is collected.

ROME, May 18, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will
host a three-way meeting with US Vice President JD Vance and European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen later on Sunday, her office
announced.

The 3:30 pm (1330 GMT) meeting "will focus on relations between the European
Union and the United States, as well as on the main issues on the
international agenda", Meloni's office said.

All three attended the inauguration mass on Sunday morning at the Vatican for
Pope Leo XIV.

US President Donald Trump's tariffs on the European Union are likely to be
top of the agenda in the meeting.

Trump said on May 9 that he hoped to meet the "fantastic" EU chief, saying
that the bloc wanted to "make a deal very badly" on reducing tariffs.

The meeting also comes two days after the first direct peace talks between
Russia and Ukraine in more than three years, which failed to produce a truce.

The European Union and EU member Italy have both strongly supported Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also at the mass at the Vatican,
where he shook Vance's hand -- their first meeting since a public clash at
the White House on February 28.