• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago on Saturday.
• Meloni received a rapturous welcome to Trump's Florida resort, per videos circulating on social media.
• The pair reportedly discussed tariffs and the arrest of an Italian journalist in Iran.

Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a surprise visit to President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday, just days before she's scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden.

Photos shared by the Italian government show Trump greeting Meloni and the pair posing at the entrance to the president-elect's Florida base.

While no official details of the meeting have been shared, Meloni and Trump are said to have discussed tariffs and the arrest in Iran of Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter.

The visit is also reported to have included a dinner and a screening of a new film called "The Eastman Dilemma: Lawfare or Justice."

"This is very exciting, I'm here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy," Trump reportedly told the crowd at Mar-a-Lago. "She's really taken Europe by storm, and everyone else, and we're just having dinner tonight."

It comes as Meloni — who received a rapturous welcome to the Palm Beach estate, according to videos circulating on social media — is set to welcome Biden to Rome for an official visit from January 9 to 12.

Meloni has been calling on EU members to carve out a positive relationship with Trump ahead of his return to office.

In a speech to the Italian parliament in December, Meloni said it was "essential to maintain a pragmatic, constructive and open approach with the new Trump administration, exploiting areas of potential and fruitful EU-U.S. cooperation and trying to prevent commercial disputes that would certainly not be good for anyone," per Politico.

She has also forged a growing bond with Elon Musk, who is set to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency under Trump's incoming administration.

Following Trump's election win in November, Meloni took to X to announce that her "friend" Musk had been in touch.

"I am convinced that his commitment and vision will be an important resource for the United States and Italy, in a spirit of collaboration aimed at addressing future challenges," she wrote.

In June 2023, Meloni hosted Musk at the Italian prime minister's official residence, the Palazzo Chigi.

Meloni and the Tesla CEO reportedly discussed AI, birth rates, innovation, and European market rules.

The prime minister called the meeting "fruitful" and a "moment of great cordiality" in a post on X.

In December 2023, Musk was also the guest of honor at Meloni's "Atreju" political festival in Rome.

The topic of birth rates was on the agenda again, as Musk urged Italians and other developed nations to have more children.

For his part, Musk has called Meloni a "precious genius" who was "even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside."

Since his election, Trump has also welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Argentinian President Javier Milei, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Mar-a-Lago.

Business Insider has contacted Meloni's office for comment.

• Elon Musk used his fortune and influence to help Donald Trump win reelection in November.
• The Tesla and SpaceX boss is now championing insurgent right-wing causes in Europe.
• He's called for a far-right agitator to be freed from prison in the UK and condemned the prime minister.

Having tapped his vast personal wealth and marshaled his 210 million followers on X to help propel Donald Trump to election victory in November, Elon Musk has turned his gaze to European politics.

In a post on X late Wednesday, Musk called for the release of Tommy Robinson, a British far-right agitator, saying he was in jail for "telling the truth." Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was jailed last year for breaching a court order not to repeat false claims about a refugee from Syria. Robinson had been successfully sued for defamation over the claims.

Musk then posted that Britain should have an election — the most recent one took place in July — and claimed its government was reluctant to hold an inquiry into child sexual exploitation to protect the prime minister, Keir Starmer. He was the country's chief prosecutor when a series of high-profile court cases about gangs targeting children shook the nation.

The posts are Musk's most aggressive intervention in European politics and follow months of commentary, particularly on events in the UK and Germany.

On Tuesday, Musk urged British voters to back Reform UK, a populist party led by Nigel Farage, a key figure in the UK's 2016 referendum to leave the EU.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO — who has embraced conservative stances on issues such as immigration, diversity, and transgender rights in recent years — met with the conservative firebrand Farage in mid-December at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

Farage later told the BBC that Musk was "fully, fully behind us" and open to donating to Reform UK if he could do so legally. The party has made no secret of its excitement about Musk and his potential financial support, with Farage describing him as a "bloody hero" in a recent interview with the UK's Daily Telegraph.

Musk has been a vocal critic of Starmer. In numerous X posts, he's called the country a "tyrannical police state" and suggested the nation was on the brink of civil war.

The tech billionaire has also thrown his weight behind the German far-right party the AfD, which has come out strongly against immigration and echoed Trump in calling for mass deportations.

The AfD holds about 10% of the seats in Germany's legislative body, the Bundestag, but it has made significant gains in recent years, including coming second in this year's European Parliament elections.

It is widely expected to win the second-highest share of votes in the Bundestag election in February and, like Reform UK, has welcomed Musk's support. Its candidate to become Germany's chancellor, Alice Weidel, said Musk was "perfectly right" when he said in an X post on December 20 that the party was the only one that could "save Germany."

Musk then championed the AfD in an op-ed published in the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag on Sunday. The paper and Business Insider are both owned by Axel Springer.

Musk wrote that years of misguided policies by the main political parties had led to "economic stagnation, social unrest, and the erosion of national identity," and the AfD represented the "last spark of hope" for the country. He justified his German political commentary by pointing to his "significant investments" in the country.

Musk's Tesla Gigafactory just outside Berlin is the company's main European facility and employs close to 12,000 people. It produces components such as batteries, and the final assembly of the Tesla Model Y is completed at the factory.

The paper printed a response by its editor-in-chief-designate, Jan Philipp Burgard, on the same page as Musk's controversial column. Burgard wrote that "Musk's diagnosis is correct," but his claim that only the AfD can save Germany is "fatally flawed."

Germany has accused Musk of meddling in its election

Before the op-ed, Musk's posts on X in support of the AfD prompted a government spokesperson to accuse him of attempting to meddle in the election, Reuters reported.

The spokesperson said that Musk was free to express his opinions, however, he said, "Freedom of opinion also covers the greatest nonsense."

Friedrich Merz, the center-right Christian Democratic Union's candidate for chancellor, described Musk's backing of the AfD as "intrusive and pretentious."

"I cannot recall in the history of Western democracies a comparable case of interference in the election campaign of a friendly country," he told the Funke media group.

In his New Year's Eve message, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said Musk's support of the AfD was part of a "logical and systematic" campaign to weaken Europe and erode its regulatory system.

Several of Musk's businesses, most notably Tesla, are subject to European regulations and stand to benefit from reduced oversight. Tesla's plans for fully self-driving cars face increased hurdles in Europe, where regulations on autonomous vehicles are more stringent.

Musk has called Italy's leader a 'genius'

Musk has also spoken fondly of Italy's right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. In September, he called her a "precious genius" who was "even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside."

Meloni leads the Brothers of Italy party — which has roots in the post-World War II neo-fascist Italian Social Movement. She came to power in 2022, campaigning on a platform of lower immigration, tighter border control, and traditional values. At the time, she was described as Italy's most right-wing leader since Benito Mussolini.

Trump's agenda of tax cuts, tariffs, and deregulation would likely benefit Musk's companies. Tesla's stock surged after Trump's election victory. But it's less obvious what Musk and his companies would gain from the rise of those he backs in Europe.

Not only are AfD and Reform unlikely to form governments soon, both also have policies that could hurt Tesla.

The AfD has opposed the extension of Tesla's German factory, while Reform has pledged to reverse a looming ban on the sale of gas and diesel cars in the UK, which would benefit EV makers like Tesla.

The AfD is polling in second place at 19%, more than the 12.6% it won in the last election in 2021. Musk posted to X Monday that it would win "an epic victory." Whether it makes those predicted gains or not, the party will no doubt continue to welcome the support of the world's most outspoken billionaire.