Albanese still awaiting crucial meeting with Donald Trump

Daily Mail​

19 hours ago

Anthony Albanese is jetting off abroad to meet other world leaders, yet has been criticised for failing to secure an official meeting with Donald Trump as the US administration applies pressure on Australia's defence spending. The Prime Minister will leave Canberra on Friday to meet his 'dear friend', the Prime minister of Fiji, Sitiveni Rabuka, before then travelling on to Seattle for a meeting of world business leaders.
His next stop will be the G7 summit in the mountainous Canadian town of Kananaskis where Albanese will cross paths with the US President, just days after the Pentagon announced it was launching a review into the $368bn AUKUS submarine deal. 'I look forward to working productively with world leaders to discuss how we tackle some of the most challenging issues facing Australia, our region, and the world,' Albanese said.
But the Opposition has been critical of his inability to lock in a meeting with Trump, at time when the AUKUS deal hangs in the balance and Australia has not been able to get an exemption to US trade tariffs. It also comes at a time when the US President has put pressure on Australia to increase its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP - up from the current rate of around 2.3 per cent.
Albanese has spoken over the phone twice to President Trump since he was re-elected in November last year but the pair are yet to meet face-to-face. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said on Friday morning she was 'concerned' about the US review into the AUKUS deal by Defence Under Secretary for Policy, Elbridge Colby, who she claimed was a 'a sceptic of AUKUS'. Under the $368 billion submarine program, Australia is set to acquire at least three nuclear-powered Virginia-class boats from the US in the early 2030s before a new fleet is built for delivery from the 2040s.
The pact between Australia, the US, and the UK is aimed at countering China's expanding presence in the Indo-Pacific. But the Pentagon review will assess whether the deal meets Trump's 'America First' objectives. Ley acknowledged that it was 'really hard' to secure a meeting with the US President, but she insisted Albanese had failed where others had succeeded. 'Lots of other world leaders have had that meeting. We haven't,' Ley told KIIS FM.
However, Trump is yet to lock in any meetings with other world leaders at the summit, The Australian reported. The G7 brings together seven of the world's largest advanced economies – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – and the European Union. Climate and security are expected to dominate the diplomatic talks between leaders. Australia is not a member of the G7, but Canadian prime minister Mark Carney extended an invitation to Albanese.
He is expected to meet with the US president on the sidelines of the conference, where he could try to carve out a tariff exemption. Australia is facing 10 per cent tariffs on goods exported to the US and - like every US trading partner except the UK - has been hit with 50 per cent tariffs on aluminium and steel sent to America.