As Donald Trump confirms G7 attendance, Albanese sweats on confirmation of a one-on-one meeting
Anthony Albanese will pay a visit to US tech giant Amazon during a stopover to Seattle, where he will make the case for free trade and underscore the "strength of the economic relationship" between the two countries, as Australian officials scramble to secure his first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump.
Ahead of his 79th birthday, the White House has confirmed the US president will fly to the Canadian Rockies on Monday for the three-day G7 summit and while trade and security are the focus, Israel's surprise attacks on Iran have the potential to up-end the agenda.
The last time Mr Trump attended a G7 summit on Canadian soil, the president himself up-ended the agenda, refusing to sign the final leaders' statement and deriding Canada's then-prime minister Justin Trudeau as "very dishonest and weak" as he flew out on Air Force One.
Canada's new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, is hoping to avoid another blow up, forgoing the final communique this year in favour of "action-oriented leader statements", meaning the G7 leaders won't need to reach a consensus on a range of economic and foreign policy issues.
It is on the sidelines of the diplomatic meeting, however, that Mr Albanese is seeking to meet Mr Trump in person for the first time and convince him to drop his tariffs on Australia and stay the course on the AUKUS submarine pact.
The Trump administration's decision to review the agreement, at the same time as it calls on Australia to dramatically lift its defence spending, has raised the stakes for Mr Albanese to secure a meeting at the mountain resort in Kananaskis to find some common ground.
The pair have spoken on the phone twice since Mr Trump's re-election but have never met in person.
Potentially complicating his bid is the fact that several leaders are racing to lock-in one-on-one talks with the US president, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum, as his America-first agenda causes global turmoil.
At this stage, it appears Japan's Shigeru Ishiba is the only leader who has publicly confirmed a coveted bilateral meeting.
To help make his case, Mr Albanese will highlight the deep Australian-US business links on Sunday by visiting Amazon's headquarters in the thriving tech hub of Seattle — a company set to announce billions more "to expand the Australian network of data centres".
He will then address business leaders, alongside Australia's Ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, highlighting the importance of "free and fair trade".
"This sends a signal to the world — and it's a powerful symbol of Australia and the United States cooperating to seize and shape a new era of prosperity," Mr Albanese is expected to say.
"The United States is Australia's largest foreign investment destination and our largest two-way investment partner.
"Our task is to build on this strength — and diversify beyond it."
Amazon already plans to open new data centres in Sydney and Melbourne and is building a $2 billion cloud-based storage system to handle top-secret data for Australia's military and spy agencies.
At the time of that announcement in 2024, Amazon's Iain Rouse said the company had been in Australia for a decade and "was in the for the long haul with this partnership".
"In the last decade, we've invested $9.1 billion into Australia. And we've committed with further $13.2 billion worth of investment through 2027," he told reporters.
Companies, including Amazon, are racing to build new data centres around the world to meet the increasing demand for computing power and storage, driven largely by AI and the widespread adoption of cloud computing.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
34 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Albanese ‘expects' to meet Trump next week at G7
Anthony Albanese has said he 'expects' to meet Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada on Tuesday. The prime minister made the announcement in the US city of Seattle on his way to the meeting of the world's most advanced economies near Calgary which begins late on Sunday. He also said in Seattle that Australia will be unlikely to 'pay a role' in the military conflict unfolding between Israel and Iran. Mr Albanese's confirmation of a meeting with the US president avoids would could have been a humiliating snub given he would be at the same event as Mr Trump but has never met him in person. For weeks there has been no confirmation of a meeting between the two leaders. Indeed, American officials have even scolded Australia in the last week for not spending enough, in their view, on defence and for sanctioning two far right Israeli politicians. The US also announced a review of the AUKUS nuclear submarine pact which the PM has suggested is to be expected but is still unwelcome in Canberra. 'I do expect to meet the president on the sidelines of the G7 in Canada on Tuesday,' Mr Albanese said at Amazon's headquarters in Seattle where a $20 billion investment by the tech giant in Australia was also announced. 'Obviously there are issues that the US president is dealing with at the moment but I expect that we will be able to have a constructive engagement and I look forward to building on the constructive phone conversations that we've been able to have on three occasions'. 'We'll raise tariffs we'll raise the importance of AUKUS and we'll have a discussion as two friends should do'. Asked if Australia has any requests to play a role in the Israel-Iran conflict, Mr Albanese said there was no expectation. 'As you'd expect we continue to monitor but Australia does not play a role in this conflict'.
The Age
35 minutes ago
- The Age
Iran's four possible responses to Israeli attack
Israel's attack on Iran opens the next phase of the Great Middle Eastern War that began on October 7, 2023. Over the past 20 months, that war has played out on fronts across the region and has drawn in actors from around the globe. There is much we don't yet know about what has happened, let alone what will happen. But it is clear that Iran has suffered significant damage to its leadership, its military and industrial capabilities, and perhaps its nuclear program. The endgame of this conflict and the future of the region will be profoundly shaped by how a wounded Iran responds. There are four basic possibilities. Their consequences range from a bigger, bloodier Middle Eastern mess to a potentially surprising diplomatic denouement: a far stronger nuclear deal than United States President Donald Trump could have secured just a few days ago. First, Iran could go nasty but narrow, striking back against Israel but avoiding US bases or other regional targets. Drone, missile or terrorist attacks against Israel (some of which are already underway) would offer a measure of vengeance. But this strategy would seek to avoid triggering a larger, riskier conflict with Washington. The problem is that America is already involved in this conflict: Trump has pledged to help Israel defend itself. A narrow response could thus look pathetic if Tehran's remaining weapons can't penetrate Israel's multi-layered (and multi-nation) air and missile defence. And even if Iran draws blood, Israel will just keep coming, as these opening strikes were the beginning of a larger military campaign. If Iran needs to make a bigger statement, it could go big and broad. In addition to hitting Israel, it could strike US personnel, facilities and partners from Iraq to the Persian Gulf. It could also activate its proxies – the Houthis, Iraqi Shia militias, and what remains of Hezbollah – in a bid to set the region on fire. That strategy has appeal as a way of restoring deterrence against dangerous enemies. It would remind the world that even a weakened Iran can cause real pain. But it would also cross the red line Trump has drawn against attacks on US targets. So Iran could find itself fighting a bigger war against Israel and the US, fraught with existential dangers for an already battered regime. The third possibility – nuclear breakout – could be just as dangerous. Depending on how much nuclear infrastructure is left – particularly the buried, hardened uranium enrichment facility at Fordow – Tehran could withdraw from the non-proliferation treaty and make a desperate push for the bomb.
Sydney Morning Herald
36 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Iran's four possible responses to Israeli attack
Israel's attack on Iran opens the next phase of the Great Middle Eastern War that began on October 7, 2023. Over the past 20 months, that war has played out on fronts across the region and has drawn in actors from around the globe. There is much we don't yet know about what has happened, let alone what will happen. But it is clear that Iran has suffered significant damage to its leadership, its military and industrial capabilities, and perhaps its nuclear program. The endgame of this conflict and the future of the region will be profoundly shaped by how a wounded Iran responds. There are four basic possibilities. Their consequences range from a bigger, bloodier Middle Eastern mess to a potentially surprising diplomatic denouement: a far stronger nuclear deal than United States President Donald Trump could have secured just a few days ago. First, Iran could go nasty but narrow, striking back against Israel but avoiding US bases or other regional targets. Drone, missile or terrorist attacks against Israel (some of which are already underway) would offer a measure of vengeance. But this strategy would seek to avoid triggering a larger, riskier conflict with Washington. The problem is that America is already involved in this conflict: Trump has pledged to help Israel defend itself. A narrow response could thus look pathetic if Tehran's remaining weapons can't penetrate Israel's multi-layered (and multi-nation) air and missile defence. And even if Iran draws blood, Israel will just keep coming, as these opening strikes were the beginning of a larger military campaign. If Iran needs to make a bigger statement, it could go big and broad. In addition to hitting Israel, it could strike US personnel, facilities and partners from Iraq to the Persian Gulf. It could also activate its proxies – the Houthis, Iraqi Shia militias, and what remains of Hezbollah – in a bid to set the region on fire. That strategy has appeal as a way of restoring deterrence against dangerous enemies. It would remind the world that even a weakened Iran can cause real pain. But it would also cross the red line Trump has drawn against attacks on US targets. So Iran could find itself fighting a bigger war against Israel and the US, fraught with existential dangers for an already battered regime. The third possibility – nuclear breakout – could be just as dangerous. Depending on how much nuclear infrastructure is left – particularly the buried, hardened uranium enrichment facility at Fordow – Tehran could withdraw from the non-proliferation treaty and make a desperate push for the bomb.
