Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and its top business lobby warned on Wednesday that looming U.S. tariffs would have a major impact on the country's exports and already struggling economy. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce sweeping new tariffs on global trading partners later in the day, upending decades of rules-based trade, risking cost increases and likely drawing retaliation from all sides.

"It is clear that the introduction of new tariffs would have heavy repercussions for Italian producers", Meloni said while hosting a prize-giving ceremony for Italian cuisine in Rome. Meloni added that she did not rule out "adequate responses" to protect the exports of the euro zone's third largest economy, though she did not elaborate.