ROME, July 28, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed an EU-US trade deal on Monday, saying it had avoided "potentially devastating" consequences.

Meloni -- an ally of US President Donald Trump on many issues -- had earlier this month warned against a "trade war within the West."

Speaking at a summit in Ethiopia, Meloni said a "trade escalation between Europe and the United States would have had unpredictable and potentially devastating consequences".

She added, however, that she still had to "study the details" of the deal.

She spoke hours after Trump and the EU's Ursula von der Leyen struck the deal -- that will see EU exports taxed at 15 percent -- in Scotland.

Meloni stressed she views the fact that a deal was struck at all "positively."

The right-wing Italian leader said Rome will look into whether exemptions could be possible "particularly on some agricultural products."