10 hours ago
Donald Trump to leave G7 before one-on-one with Anthony Albanese
Donald Trump will depart the G7 summit early, according to the White House, leaving his planned one-on-one meeting with Anthony Albanese in limbo.
The news of the United States president's plans broke, just minutes after Mr Albanese told a media conference in Calgary that he "looked forward to the meeting and looked forward to it taking place".
The face-to-face talks — the first between the leaders — were scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the summit on Wednesday morning.
In a statement posted to X, US Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Mr Trump was returning to Washington after dinner due to "what's going on in the Middle East".
The prime minister's office has been contacted for comment and is yet to confirm whether the talks will go ahead.
Mr Albanese confirmed the meeting over the weekend, where he said he would raise the Trump administration's tariffs on Australia and the AUKUS partnership.
The high-stakes meeting comes just days after the White House confirmed it was reviewing the $368 billion submarine deal and as it pressured Australia to lift its defence spending.
On Tuesday, Mr Albanese gave no indication he was aware of the the president's plans to leave the three-day summit early, setting expectations for the talks.
It would be unreasonable to expect that the meeting would result in a resolution of the tariff issue, he said.
"When I first raised with President Trump the issue of tariffs, of course, he said he would give it great consideration," he told reporters.
"I would expect that that will continue and that we'll continue to put forward our case as we have in all of the discussions that I've had with President Trump."
He was also asked whether Mr Trump had responded to his invitation to visit Australia, to which he said the US president would "always be a welcome guest".
The prime minister is also scheduled to meet with European leaders and Japan's prime minister on Wednesday.
