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'.
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