By James Massola
Kananaskis: Australia’s ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, is leading a diplomatic push to lock in a meeting for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with President Donald Trump in Europe next week, which would force Albanese to depart Australia again just days after returning from his failed attempt to meet Trump in Canada.
The president is scheduled to be at the NATO summit beginning on June 24 in The Hague, and a meeting would give the prime minister a chance to press Australia’s case with the US on the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, defence spending and tariffs.
But the risk that Trump could cancel – to deal with escalating conflict in the Middle East – presents a dilemma for Albanese, who has tried to brush off the blow of Trump cancelling their meeting at the G7 for the same reason.
A day after saying he expected Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles would attend the NATO summit, Albanese changed his mind and said he could go. “Yes, that’s being considered,” he told reporters travelling with him at the G7 summit in Canada.
Sources familiar with Australia’s diplomatic approach, who weren’t authorised to speak publicly, said Rudd was leading work on a potential meeting and that Albanese was unlikely to go to NATO unless time with Trump was certain.
While Rudd is leading the push to secure the meeting, Albanese has also sought advice from Greg Norman about how to build a connection with Trump. The strategy mirrors the playbook of Malcolm Turnbull, who also turned to the professional golfer to get in touch with Trump in 2016.
The White House confirmed two weeks ago that Trump would attend the NATO summit, which is expected to focus on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war between Israel and Iran. Yet on Wednesday morning, a US State Department official said that Trump’s plan to attend could change because of the “rapidly changing situation in the Middle East”.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum tweeted on Wednesday morning that she had received a phone call from Trump after her own meeting was cancelled, but Albanese said he had not had a similar phone call.
Instead of an audience with the US president in Canada, the prime minister met with three of Trump’s most senior economic advisers, salvaging some time with White House officials.
Joined by Rudd, Albanese met Kevin Hassett, Trump’s director of the National Economic Council, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. He then met US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent for about 20 minutes.
Credit: Matt Golding
The discussions focused on trade between the two nations, the US imposition of tariffs on Australian aluminium, iron ore and other goods, and Australia’s willingness to be a reliable supplier of critical minerals and rare earths to the US.
Albanese played down the fact that he had not received a call from Trump as Sheinbaum had.
“We’re mature about the circumstances of what happened. It’s perfectly understandable. We’ll reschedule a meeting. From time to time, that is what occurs,” he said.
In a whirlwind final day of meetings, Albanese met world leaders including Britain’s Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, French President Emmanuel Macron, European Union Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In an unguarded moment, Albanese embraced Zelensky as the G7 leaders gathered for the so-called family photo at the foot of Canada’s spectacular Rocky Mountains.
Australia has been one of the largest non-NATO contributors of assistance – including weapons systems such as the Abrams M1 tank – to Ukraine in its brutal war with Russia. Albanese and Zelensky have previously met in Kyiv.
Albanese and Starmer met in the final hours of the summit for discussions that focused on the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, which is currently under review by the US, as well as the war in Ukraine and deepening trade ties.
Starmer said the bilateral relationship “could not be stronger in my view”, which he backed with an invitation for Albanese to visit the UK.
Following the meeting with Starmer, Albanese was asked if the UK prime minister had indicated whether the US president was still supportive of the AUKUS pact that binds the three nations.
“I’ve seen nothing to suggest otherwise,” he said. It’s not up to me to speak on behalf of others … But Prime Minister Starmer, of course, has made public statements and the US Defence Secretary has made clear statements as well.”
At the beginning of his discussion with Germany’s Merz, the chancellor noted that free trade negotiations between Australia and the EU had restarted recently after being put on hold in October 2023.
The deal stalled because of disagreements over Australian farmers gaining increased access to the giant EU market, and disagreement over naming protections for European products such as cheese and wine.
In a brief exchange between Albanese and Merz that was open to the media, the German leader asked, “Is there anything I can do to speed it up a little bit?”, referring to the trade deal, to which Albanese replied: “We are very keen on getting it done quickly.”
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