Prime Minister unlikely to attend NATO summit, canning key Trump meeting opportunity

It remains unclear when Anthony Albanese will meet Donald Trump, with the Prime Minister no longer expected to attend the NATO summit.

The Albanese government is planning to send Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles to the NATO summit in the Netherlands next week, not Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, NewsWire understands.

The Prime Minister was mulling attending after his first face-to-face with Donald Trump fell through earlier this week, but is now expected to remain in Australia.

The decision, subject to change, means it is unclear when Mr Albanese will meet the US President.

The leaders were set to meet on the sidelines of the G7 in Canada, but the US leader cancelled and bailed on the summit due to the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

US President Donald Trump will be attending a NATO summit in the Netherlands next week. Picture: AFP / Brendan Smialowski

Earlier on Friday, the opposition slammed Mr Albanese’s approach to his relationship with the US leader as “very risky”.

Senior Coalition senator James Paterson said on Friday Mr Albanese should attend next week’s NATO summit in the Netherlands even if his chances of chatting with Mr Trump were slim.

“If he meets with President Trump on the sidelines, that would be a bonus,” Senator Paterson told Seven.

“But frankly, I think his approach of now waiting seven months to go and see the President and not going to see him in Washington DC, relying on a chance meeting on the sidelines of international forum, is a very risky strategy, as we saw at the G7.”

Though, he added, Australia and Europe had many shared interests that would also make the trip worthwhile.

Senior opposition senator James Paterson says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should attend next week’s NATO summit. Picture: NewsWire / Jason Edwards

“The first is, we have a strong interest in the outcome of Russia’s war on Ukraine,” Senator Paterson said.

“We want Ukraine to win and we should be co-ordinating closely with our allies about the things we can do to support them.

“Secondly, we have a strong shared interest with our European partners on the outcome of what’s happening in Iran right now.

“We want Iran’s nuclear enrichment program to come to an end, as do they and we should be co-ordinating on that.

“And thirdly, it will give the Prime Minister an opportunity to consult with European partners on the importance of increasing defence spending, and they can tell him what the consequences are of failing to invest adequately in defence industry in peacetime, and hopefully he can heed that advice.”

Originally published as Prime Minister unlikely to attend NATO summit, canning key Trump meeting opportunity