Trump card in play as Albanese makes major AI announcement as Amazon HQ

Anthony Albanese is under pressure to win assurances from Donald Trump around the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal and exemptions from tariffs for Australian exporters.

Anthony Albanese who has talked with Donald Trump on the phone three times, is now preparing for his first in-person meeting.. Artwork by Frank Ling. Sources: iStock, AFP and Supplied.

Anthony Albanese is closing in on a G7 meeting with Donald Trump after the US President confirmed he would attend the summit in Canada despite the unfolding war between Israel and Iran and warnings of mass weekend protests in major cities across the United States.

Ahead of his 79th birthday and thousands of protesters preparing to rally against his immigration policies, Mr Trump has confirmed with key G7 leaders that he will make it to the Kananaskis summit.

The Prime Minister, who has talked with Mr Trump on the phone three times, is now preparing for his first in-person meeting. It remains unknown whether the pair will have a formal bilateral meeting or a more casual encounter. Either way, Mr Albanese is under pressure to develop a relationship with Mr Trump and win assurances around the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal and exemptions from tariffs for Australian exporters.

Mr Trump is expected to leave for Canada after more high-level national security briefings on the Israel-Iran conflict and the President taking part in the US Army’s 250th anniversary parade.

During a brief stop in the northwestern US city of Seattle, which is home to tech giants Amazon and Microsoft, Mr Albanese on Sunday (AEDT) will make a major artificial intelligence and data centre announcement ahead of the G7 summit.

On top of Amazon’s current investments in Australian data centres and cloud systems, the tech behemoth will announce alongside Mr Albanese additional funding that would take the company’s overall promised spend since 2012 to well into the tens of billions. In 2023, Amazon Web Services (AWS) unveiled a $13.2bn plan to expand cloud operations in Sydney and Melbourne by 2027, on top of $9.1bn in existing commitments.

The funding announcement at Amazon headquarters will be seized on by Mr Albanese to press harder on his vision for new energy-intensive data centres and cloud capacity to help accelerate his government’s ambition for faster artificial intelligence-fuelled economic, defence and productivity gains.

Speaking at a technology and innovation business reception, hosted by Australia’s Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd, Mr Albanese on Sunday will tell tech leaders that “over the coming days at the G7 in Alberta, we’ll be focusing on the significant security and economic challenges facing the world”.

“But we should not lose sight of the profound opportunities that can be realised by closer and deeper co-operation,” Mr Albanese will say.

AWS last year inked a $2bn deal with the Albanese government to establish a “top secret” data cloud to store classified military and intelligence information.

Mr Albanese will tell the tech leaders that Amazon’s new multi-billion dollar investment “sends a signal to the world – and it’s a powerful symbol of Australia and the United States co-operating to seize and shape a new era of prosperity”.

Mr Albanese, who on Friday travelled to Nadi for a dinner meeting with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka before flying to Seattle, will have bilateral discussions on the sidelines of the G7 summit with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It is understood that Mr Carney will not release a G7 communique at the end of the three-day summit to avoid any embarrassing clashes or public disputes with Mr Trump.

In his Seattle speech, delivered in front of representatives from companies including BHP Ventures, Diraq, Trellis Health, Airwallex and Anthropic, Mr Albanese will address the strength of the US-Australia trade relationship amid concerns about universal tariffs imposed by Mr Trump.

“This room – and indeed this city – reflects the strength of the economic relationship between Australia and the United States,” he will say.

“Free and fair trade has transformed the economies of our region. And it underpins economic partnership between our two nations, including through the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement, signed 20 years ago. Today, the United States is Australia’s largest foreign investment destination and our largest two-way investment partner.

“Our task is to build on this strength – and diversify beyond it. To seek out new sources for growth and investment, particularly in the sector’s you represent.”

Amazon, which in February announced a new and expanded whole-of-government agreement with the federal government’s Digital Transformation Agency, has already announced it will pump more than $20bn into Australian-based cloud infrastructure, data centres and jobs.

During his October 2023 trip to Washington DC, Mr Albanese announced that Microsoft would spend an extra $5bn over two years to expand its Australian cloud computing and artificial intelligence operations and run 29 data centres in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

Anthony Albanese meets with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rambuka. Picture: PMO

Mr Albanese will tell US-based tech leaders that his second-term Labor government wants a “culture that encourages businesses and industry to embrace technology and incorporate it into the way they work”.

“US companies … recognise the extraordinary potential that investing in Australia represents. Whether it is quantum and AI, Defence, health or agriculture. Software or space technology. All of you are bringing your optimism and determination to some of the great challenges facing our world.”

Invoking energy security and critical minerals, Mr Albanese will say technological capabilities must be boosted to underpin advanced manufacturing and clean energy tech, cutting-edge AI and biotechnology”.

“We will engage respectfully and constructively, in our national interest. We will continue to advocate for free and fair trade, for the jobs it creates and the investment it drives. We will hold true to the principles of shared opportunity and collective responsibility that are vital to building a more secure, prosperous and stable region – and world.”

After the landmark AWS-Australian Signals Directorate deal was made public in July last year, Mr Albanese said the project would create more than 2000 jobs and “bolster our defence and national intelligence community to ensure they can deliver world-leading protection for our nation”. Funding for the project is understood to be sourced from the ASD’s $9.9bn REDSPICE program.

The AWS national security partnership, which mirrors similar projects underway in Britain and the US, has the potential to be expanded amid calls from the Trump administration for Australia to lift defence spending and invest more money in US-firms. The current AWS deal involves the construction of three highly secure data centres and two control centres at undisclosed locations across the country, which would be operational by mid-2027.