‘Bad timing': US-India tensions throw Albanese-Trump meeting into doubt
Trump announced on Thursday that he would double tariffs on Indian exports to the United States to 50 per cent, among the highest in the world, to punish the nation for buying oil from Russia, sparking an angry reaction from New Delhi.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been preparing to host the leaders of Australia, the US and Japan for a summit of the Quad grouping in early September, providing a platform for Albanese's first in-person meeting with Trump.
The Quad leaders have met every year since 2021 as part of the high-profile partnership designed to showcase the ability of the nations to work together as a democratic counterweight to authoritarian China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
Beijing has loathed the Quad since its inception, blasting it as an 'exclusive clique' and falsely characterising it as an 'Asian NATO', although the group is not underpinned by a treaty.
Ian Hall, an expert on Indian politics at Griffith University, said it was 'a toss up' whether the September summit, which has not been formally confirmed, would go ahead given the rising hostility between Trump and Modi, who until recently revelled in a seemingly friendly relationship.
'The Quad is going to have to come up with a whole new agenda and to find a way to hold a summit in India. It's very unclear if that will happen,' he said.
'For 25 years, the US has seen India's rising prosperity and influence as being in its interests. That has just disappeared under 'America first' and that's a big problem.'
Albanese tried to meet Trump to discuss issues including tariffs and AUKUS at a meeting of the G7 group of countries in June, but the president left early as conflict escalated in the Middle East.
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