Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Thursday that he is going to tell United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio that starting a trade war will lead to a lose-lose situation.

“I will only say (to Rubio) that a trade war is not good for anyone,” Tajani told journalists at the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Charlevoix, Canada.

“I am also convinced that Italy can import more from the US, it can invest more in the US, and greater imports and greater Italian investments could also be a shield to protect our exports to that country”.

He said the meeting was sure to produce “a strong message of support for Ukraine” and “appreciation of the work done in Saudi Arabia, thanks also to American mediation.

“Ukraine’s decision to work for peace is also being judged very positively by everyone,” Tajani continued.

But the foreign minister expressed scepticism at the idea of forming a “coalition of the willing” to send peacekeeping troops and other support to shield Ukraine against future Russian aggression in case of a peace settlement.

“We believe that it is more appropriate to focus on a choice that involves the United Nations, precisely in order to guarantee the possibility of protecting peace, as is done in Lebanon, where there is the UNIFIL buffer force between Lebanon and Israel,” he said, adding that “it is still all very premature because first we need to achieve peace”.

He also said he wanted to raise at the G7 the issue of Italian NGO worker Alberto Trentini, who has been detained in Venezuela since last November.

“We will ask for the immediate release of all political detainees, of all those unjustly detained in Venezuelan prisons,” Tajani said.

Tajani said other Italians were being detained in Venezuela, but did not name them.