The statement came as Meloni held back-to-back transatlantic meetings with Donald Trump and his deputy JD Vance, winning a warm welcome from the US President that contrasted with his frostier treatment of other European leaders.

European levies aimed at hitting dominant US tech giants such as Alphabet's Google, Meta's Facebook, Apple and Amazon have been a longstanding irritant for US administrations, including Trump's.

Italy applies a 3% levy on revenue from internet transactions for digital companies with sales of at least $853.35 million, which is worth less than $568,62 million in revenue for the state each year.

"We agreed that a non-discriminatory environment in terms of digital services taxation is necessary to enable investments from cutting-edge tech companies," Rome and Washington said following Meloni's visit to the White House on Thursday.

--Reuters--