Italy to join US-led Pax Silica AI initiative despite Trump spat

Italy will join the US-led Pax Silica initiative on artificial intelligence supply chains despite a spat between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and US President Donald Trump, ‌a foreign ⁠ministry official ⁠said.

Ambassador Armando Varricchio told Friday's Corriere della Sera daily that ​Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and US Secretary of State Marco ​Rubio would sign a memorandum of understanding "at the first available opportunity".

"This provides a political basis that demonstrates ​the willingness to resume from where ⁠we had ‌temporarily left off," Varricchio said.


Pax Silica is a US State Department initiative bringing together ⁠allied countries to secure AI-related supply chains, covering areas ranging from energy and critical minerals to advanced manufacturing and AI models. The European Commission joined the initiative on Thursday and the Netherlands signed up earlier in the week.

Varricchio, acting as Italy's special envoy for innovation, attended a Washington ‌summit on the initiative as an observer on Thursday and signed a joint declaration ​on AI ​opportunities alongside countries ⁠including Britain, Germany, Japan, India and South Korea.

Italy was due to join Pax Silica on Monday in Miami, but ​Tajani called off the trip after Meloni and Trump had a public falling out after the US president complained about Italy's alleged lack of support for the Iran war.