Has Donald Trump finally met a European leader he can work with?

Donald Trump has finally met a European leader he can stand for more than a moment: Italy’s bookish new premier, Giuseppe Conte. The former law professor, who was plucked out of obscurity by 5Star’s Luigi Di Maio and the League’s Matteo Salvini to be the nominal consensus pick of Rome’s anti-establishment government, is the kind of European Trump can do business with. Or at least that is Trump’s hope.

For the brash billionaire, Europe has been nothing but a nuisance. Despite his proclamations of having a terrific relationship with Germany’s Angela Merkel and a kinship with France’s Emmanuel Macron, it is not difficult to see through the facade. Relations between the US and Europe have been going through significant tremors ever since Trump arrived in the White House eighteen months ago. The European political establishment is none too pleased with the antics and policies of their American colleague. The list of European grievances is long, from Trump’s public bullying tactics to the president’s unwillingness to accept the conventional view of US-Europe ties as invaluable to peace and prosperity.