Italy warns Trump against signing bilateral trade deals with EU countries

U.S. President Donald Trump cannot strike bilateral trade deals with individual EU member states and break the bloc's unity on commerce, Italian Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday.

Italy is concerned about tariffs given its large trade surplus with the U.S., Urso told the Corriere della Sera paper, but duties on steel and aluminium announced on Monday should have little impact on Italian exports, he said.

It would be "impossible" for Trump to bypass EU institutions and offer bilateral trade deals to leaders who have better relations with him, such as Italy's conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Urso noted.

In terms of trade policy, individual EU states "cannot in any way conclude bilateral agreements, raise or lower duties or even prepare anti-dumping measures," he added.

EU trade ministers will hold a virtual meeting on Wednesday on a possible response to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

"We are particularly worried that a new trade war could start," Urso said.

Meloni is committed to EU unity but was also focused on "using the excellent relationship (she has) with the Trump administration to avoid an escalation that is in nobody's interest," he said.

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Giselda Vagnoni and Bernadette Baum)