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For Salvini U.S. Trip Is Dream Come True... If He Sees Trump

Updated on
  • Deputy premier heads for Washington after months of lobbying
  • Visit may include ‘encounter’ with president, officials say
Matteo Salvini
Matteo Salvini Photographer: Francesca Volpi/Bloomberg

Italy’s Matteo Salvini is off on his first official trip to the U.S., but the populist leader still doesn’t know if he’ll get the prize he wants most: an audience with Donald Trump, the man he cites as his political inspiration.

The deputy premier, the dominant force in his country’s quarrelsome ruling coalition, will sit down Monday in Washington with both Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. Salvini’s official schedule does not include a meeting with President Trump.