Italy will join the Pax Silica initiative, a U.S. State Department effort to coordinate allied countries on securing artificial intelligence-related supply chains, an Italian foreign ministry official said. The announcement comes despite a public dispute between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and U.S. President Donald Trump that delayed a planned Italian signing in Miami.
Ambassador Armando Varricchio, speaking to Corriere della Sera, said that Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will sign a memorandum of understanding "at the first available opportunity." Varricchio described the agreement as offering "a political basis that demonstrates the willingness to resume from where we had temporarily left off."
Pax Silica, led by the U.S. State Department, aims to bring allied nations together to secure supply chains related to artificial intelligence. The initiative covers a range of areas explicitly cited by Italian officials, including energy, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing and AI models. The European Commission formally joined the initiative on Thursday, and the Netherlands signed up earlier in the week.
Acting as Italy's special envoy for innovation, Varricchio attended a Washington summit on Pax Silica on Thursday as an observer. While there, he signed a joint declaration on AI opportunities alongside delegations from a number of countries named by the Italian official, including Britain, Germany, Japan, India and South Korea.
Italy had been scheduled to complete its formal accession to Pax Silica on Monday in Miami. That plan was altered after a public falling out between Prime Minister Meloni and President Trump, which followed a complaint from Trump regarding Italy's alleged lack of support for the Iran war. In the wake of that dispute, Foreign Minister Tajani canceled the Miami trip, and the signing was put on hold.
The Italian foreign ministry official framed the planned memorandum as a way to restore momentum in multilateral cooperation on AI supply chains. Beyond the formal signing, the statements from Rome indicate the country intends to remain engaged in the initiative alongside other European and global partners who have recently joined or declared support.
Contextual note: The details above reflect statements made by an Italian foreign ministry official and the reported sequence of events surrounding Italy's participation and the postponed Miami engagement.