Anthony Albanese on a collision course ahead of potential meeting with Donald Trump
After four phone calls and eight months of waiting Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump will finally be in the same room with talks of tariffs, AUKUS and Palestine to test the alliance.
Anthony Albanese’s highly-anticipated first time seeing Donald Trump in person is set to be a perfunctory formality with the US President yet to lock in a meeting with the Prime Minister hours before he lands in New York.
Mr Albanese, who today leaves for the United States before later heading on to the United Kingdom, is slated to make his maiden speech to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
He had hoped to use the visit to meet one-on-one with President Trump amid a tumultuous period for US-Australian with relations with tariffs, defence spending, the Pentagon’s AUKUS review and recognition of a Palestinian state causing friction.
They had been due to meet in Canada in June but Mr Trump left the event early days before bombing Iranian nuclear facilities.
They have spoken four times on the phone but the leaders are yet to meet in person almost eight months into Mr Trump’s second term.
Both are due to address the assembly this week and the Australian government has worked furiously to try lock in a meeting.
Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles made a last-minute dash to the White House in an attempt to smooth relations and lock in a meeting between the two leaders.
The annual meeting of world leaders from 193 nations is in its 80th year and is themed “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights,” and comes at a pivotal moment amid shifting alliances and global upheaval.
As the leader of the host country, Mr Trump will be the second speaker on Monday local time.
It is tradition for Brazil to speak first in a nod to its leadership in the early days of the UN when its representative stepped up to speak when others were reluctant.
While both sides remained tight-lipped about plans for a meeting between the two leaders, Mr Trump offered hope of an imminent encounter with his Australian counterpart as he lashed a veteran ABC reporter who asked about his business dealings this week.
In response, the President told him: “You know your leader is coming over to see me very soon, I‘m going to tell him about you, you set a very bad tone.”
Mr Albanese also told Sky News the pair would see each other at a reception hosted by the US President but did not say whether they would have a more formal closed-door meeting.
“We’ll meet,” he said.
“We’ve spoken four times. We’ve had really warm conversations.
“I look forward to – we won’t just see each other, obviously. We’ll see each other in New York. He’s hosting a reception on Tuesday night of next week.”
So far, that is the only time the two are expected to cross paths, offering Mr Albanese little hope of significant facetime with the President who will be hosting hundreds of guests,
On Sunday, the first full day of Mr Albanese’s trip, Mr Trump and senior members of his administration will attend the funeral of slain conservative political activist Charlie Kirk in Phoenix, Arizona.
The President, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Donald Trump Jr are all expected to make remarks at the service being held in a 63,000-seat football stadium.
Mr Albanese will use his time in New York to highlight Australia’s world-leading social media laws that come into effect in December and raise the age of access to social media from 13 to 16.
Sparked by News Corp Australia’s Let Them Be Kids Campaign, the new legislation aims to protect children from the harms posed by social media platforms like Meta’s Facebook and Instagram as well as Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
The European Union has already expressed an intention to follow in Australia’s footsteps and Mr Albanese will host an event in New York to make the pitch to other world leaders to follow suit.
“In my days, we as a society taught our children that they could not smoke, drink and watch adult content until a certain age,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last week.
“I believe it’s time we consider doing the same for social media.”
The PM will also pledge Australia’s commitment to recognising a state of Palestine – putting him at odds with both the United States and Israel.
After Mr Albanese announced an intention to join Canada, the United Kingdom and France in supporting a two-state solution, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a scathing rebuke, accusing the Australian leader of betrayal and weakness.
Those two leaders could also come face-to-face in New York – Mr Netanyahu is scheduled to speak at the general assembly.
Despite his anger at Israel’s recent strikes on Hamas officials in Qatar, Mr Trump will welcome Mr Netanyahu to the White House after the UN event in what will be the Israeli Prime Minister’s fourth visit to the Oval Office this year.
If Mr Albanese does manage to secure a eleventh hour meeting with Mr Trump – there are a number of issues competing for top place on the agenda, including America’s 10 per cent baseline tariff on Australian imports and far heftier levies on steel, aluminium, vehicles and copper – despite the US enjoying a trade surplus with its Pacific ally.
Australian diplomats have argued the case for a reduction in Australian tariffs given the trade surplus, critical minerals value and defence ties.
Another pressing issue is be the uncertain future of the AUKUS defence pact currently under review by the Pentagon.
In a timely boost, King Charles lauded the trilateral agreement between Australia, the UK and the US during Mr Trump’s state visit to the UK this week.
“Today, as tyranny once again threatens Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine to deter aggression and secure peace,” he said.
“And our AUKUS submarine partnership with Australia sets the benchmark for innovative and vital collaboration.
The Prime Minister is one of about 45 heads of state scheduled to attend UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres’ Climate Summit where governments will announce commitments to tackling climate change.
It comes days after he announced ambitious plans to drastically slash Australia’s emissions to bring them 70 per cent below 2005 levels by 2035.
“The Secretary-general’s Summit will be a moment to take stock of where we are in our global fight against climate change, and how much further we have to go, at COP30 in Belém, and in the coming decade,” UN Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell said.
Later in the week, Mr Albanese will fly from the United States to the United Kingdom.
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