BACKGROUND PRESS CALL
BY A SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL
ON THE VISIT OF PRESIDENT MATTARELLA OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC
Via Teleconference
4:01 P.M. EDT
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good afternoon, folks. Thank you for joining this background briefing on tomorrow's visit of the President Sergio Mattarella of Italy.
This call is embargoed until its conclusion and is attributable, on background, to senior administration officials.
Here's the lineup: [Senior administration official] of the National Security Council will give an opening statement, and then we’ll open up to Q&A.
At this point, I'll hand it off to you.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thank you very much. So, as my colleague indicated, the President, tomorrow, will be hosting President Sergio Mattarella tomorrow for a bilateral meeting, followed by a reception for Italian Americans to celebrate the strong and enduring ties between our two countries and peoples.
President Mattarella is, and has been, a very influential figure in Italian politics, and is responsible for guiding the country’s often tumultuous politics, including recent activity related to government formation.
He's a strong partner of the United States and an ardent supporter of the transatlantic bond. President Trump looks forward to discussing key issues with President Mattarella, as well as areas where we can further strengthen our cooperation and partnership.
Italy is a key NATO Ally and among the top contributors of troops to NATO, from the Baltic region to Iraq and to Afghanistan. The President very much appreciates Italy’s contributions, as well as it hosting some 30,000 U.S. service members.
Italy is a key and invaluable partner in the F-35 program. And the President appreciates Italy's leadership in repatriating its citizens from Syria, and asks other Europeans to do the same.
The President will reiterate that all Allies agreed to increase defense budgets more than five years ago, and that he expects each of them, including Italy, to honor that commitment.
The President may also note his expectation that EU defense initiatives should complement NATO and allow participation by the United States and U.S. companies.
The President has been very pleased with his bilateral engagements with the Italians on matters related to cybersecurity, including the decision by the Italian government to strengthen its cybersecurity framework, including a draft decree last month that will allow Rome to exclude untrusted providers, equipment, and supply chains from its 5G networks.
The administration has closely cooperated with Italy, as well as other allies and partners, on the grave and non-mitigatable threat to our national security, our privacy, and our freedoms of allowing untrusted providers, especially those subject to the control of the Chinese Communist Party, into our networks.
We have seen China using these kinds of tools in Xinjiang with great effect, turning the province into a giant surveillance state where individuals are no longer free to leave their houses.
And as we look at China -- and Huawei, in particular -- exporting its Smart Cities initiative, which we consider to be double-speak for surveillance cities abroad, we are confident that one of our closest allies, like Italy,a will not want to fall victim to that kind of -- that kind of market-based mercantilism as well.
The President is a firm believer in free, fair, and reciprocal trade and we are on track to exceeding $100 billion in bilateral trades this year. The President will discuss ways to further boost trade, ensure a more balanced relationship, and eliminate trade barriers.
We also need to work together to push back against unfair trading practices that China employs, including IP theft, restricted market access, and debt-trap diplomacy.
The President will also likely talk about the threat of unilateral digital taxes and reiterate the U.S. preference for a global solution through the OECD and his urge for Italy to cooperate with us in that process so that we can avoid unnecessary retaliation, if that becomes the President's only option.
Italy has one of the strongest and most vibrant immigrant communities in the United States. We have centuries-long cultural cooperation with Italy. And the President has been looking forward to this visit by President Mattarella for some months. And we're excited to talk about all the areas of cooperation tomorrow.
And I'm ready for any questions that you all may have.
Q Hi, this is Andrew Feinberg with Breakfast Media. Thanks for doing the call. I have two questions. The first: Will the President be asking his counterpart for any assistance with Attorney General Barr's investigation into the 2016 Election?
And second, will there be any discussion of the possibility of moving the nuclear weapons that are currently in Turkey -- at Incirlik -- to Aviano Air Force Base?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, apologies, but I don’t consider the first question to be serious, so I'm going to ignore it.
On the second question, the United States does not discuss where it may or may not have nuclear weapons.
Q Hi, my name is Shabtai Gold with the German Press Agency. I wanted to ask: Secretary Esper said he’s going to be traveling to meet with NATO Allies this week and push them for tougher sanctions on Turkey, and I was wondering if the President plans to bring the issue of sanctions on Turkey up in the conversation tomorrow? Thank you.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hey, this is -- hey, sir, this is [senior administration official] from NSC Press. So we’re going to stick to -- we’re going to stick to the discussion between the President and the Italian President tomorrow. We’re not going to address issues related to Syria.
Q Hi, this is Alex Alper with Reuters. I was wondering if you could give any more detail on exactly what Trump plans to say to express disagreement with the digital tax, please.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, I think the President has been consistent with all of the Allies who have adopted, or are considering adopting, a digital services tax; that he believes this is an unfair discrimination on U.S. companies since they are the primary companies that would be affected by such a tax. He believes that if such targeting of U.S. companies is done, he would have no choice but to retaliate to protect U.S. businesses.
That said, he has encouraged -- and Secretary Mnuchin has led -- a process to resolve concerns that partners and allies may have about digital services tax matters through what we consider to be the appropriate venue, and that’s the OECD. And I believe that is what the President will mention again tomorrow.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thank you very much. Just as a reminder, this interview was attributable to a senior administration official, on background. Thank you much. Bye bye.
END 4:09 P.M. EDT
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