LENDING A HAND

Trump Offers Italy Help to Fund Its Public Debt, Says Report

Country has the second highest debt burden in the European Union.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has been ridiculed as Donald Trump’s European “cheerleader”—but it looks like his breathless praise for the president could pay off. Reports in Italy say Trump offered to help fund Italy’s colossal public debt when the two met in late July. A report in the Corriere della Sera newspaper cites three unnamed Italian government officials who say Conte revealed the offer upon his return from Washington, D.C. last month. There are no details about exactly what form the financial help from the U.S. would take. Italy has a government debt burden of €2.3 trillion ($2.7 trillion), which amounts to 132 percent of the country’s GDP—the second-highest debt level in the EU after Greece.