Italian Prime ​Minister Giorgia Meloni accused Donald Trump of lying about her with his claim that she “begged” for a photo with him at the G7 Summit.

“She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so ​badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her,” Trump said in a phone interview with Italy’s La7 TV channel.

Both Trump and Meloni were pictured together engaging in conversation several times at the G7 summit. Trump told La7 that “she’s probably happy I spoke to her.”

Meloni fired back on Friday, saying she was “frankly astonished” that Trump would lie like this.

“I am frankly astonished,” she said. “I don’t ‌know why ⁠the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies: it is not the first time, moreover.”

“I can only say it is regrettable he does not show the same determination towards the enemies of the West and towards the enemies of the US – [enemies] whose leaders he instead appears to be far more accommodating with.”

“But there is one thing he needs to remember: neither I nor Italy ever beg,” Meloni added.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced he has canceled a planned trip to the United States over Trump’s statement about the prime minister.

“The ⁠serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend the whole of Italy,” Tajani wrote.

Giovanbattista Fazzolari, undersecretary to the prime minister’s office, says Trump is destroying the US’s historic relationship with Italy.

“It is ​unclear whether out ⁠of intent or ineptitude (Trump) is wrecking the historic relations between the United States and Europe,” Fazzolari said in a statement.