Anthony Albanese urged to follow Keir Starmer’s lead on trade, AUKUS

The Prime Minister will face extreme pressure to ramp-up Australia’s defence spending after Donald Trump cancelled their long-awaited meeting.

Anthony Albanese was blindsided when the White House revealed Donald Trump would leave the G7 summit early. Pictures: AAP/AFP

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Anthony Albanese will face ­extreme pressure to ramp up ­Australia’s defence spending following Donald Trump’s decision to cancel their long-awaited meeting in Canada shortly after delivering British Prime Minister Keir Starmer tariff exemptions and ­assurances on the future of the $368bn AUKUS deal.

On the last day of his one-week overseas trip geared around his first in-person meeting with the US President, the Prime Minister was blindsided when the White House revealed Mr Trump would leave the G7 summit early to deal with the escalating Israel-Iran war.

In the face of immense concern in Canberra over Washington’s snap 30-day review of the AUKUS pact, Sir Keir was able to deliver a degree of much-needed certainty to the Albanese government on the signature defence deal by declaring “we’re proceeding” with AUKUS as he stood alongside Mr Trump following a bilateral meeting between the two leaders.

Mr Trump did not seek to correct Sir Keir nor offer any criticism of the pact, despite reservations over the AUKUS deal in some ranks of the administration.

The President’s announcement on Tuesday that he would quit the G7 summit 24 hours after arriving in Kananaskis effectively cancelled a busy schedule of ­meetings including with Mr Albanese, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, new South ­Korean President Lee Jae-myung and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Mr Albanese and former prime minister Kevin Rudd, now his top diplomat in Washington DC, will eye a potential White House meeting later this year, with Mr Albanese expected to travel to the US in September for the UN leaders’ summit.

Mr Albanese was alerted to the news that Mr Trump had abandoned their meeting just minutes after holding a press conference in Calgary, in which he declared he was looking forward to their discussion and had engaged with golf great Greg Norman and others to help prepare for the crucial talks on tariff exemptions and AUKUS.

The Australian understands senior government and embassy figures held serious concerns about whether the talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit would proceed after the White House listed Mr Albanese’s meeting second last on Mr Trump’s itinerary. The meeting was intended to help Mr Albanese develop a closer relationship with the

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer picks up papers that President Donald Trump dropped as they meet on the sidelines of the G7 Summit. Picture: AP /Mark Schiefelbein

President after the pair had spoken three times on the phone.

With the Middle East conflict threatening to expand and draw in US armed forces, Mr Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered news of the President’s departure in a public social media post and statement. Mr Albanese and Australian officials were not given warning about the announcement.

While the two leaders will cross paths at various leaders’ summits in the second half of the year, the UN visit to New York in three months has been nominated as the most likely option for a meeting.

Amid the chaos of Mr Trump’s departure, Sir Keir won personal praise from the US President after they landed a major trade deal delivering tariff exemptions for ­British businesses.

After US ­Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Australia to lift defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP, Sir Keir’s deal with Mr Trump is expected to ratchet up pressure on Mr Albanese to replicate actions taken by the British Prime Minister.

Ahead of meeting with Mr Trump at the White House in February, Sir Keir announced he would cut his foreign aid budget to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP from April 2027, with an ambition to hit 3 per cent in a second term of government. Australia’s defence budget is only expected to reach 2.33 per cent by 2033-34. Sir Keir also delivered trade wins for Mr Trump, in the rubberstamping of a sweeping new UK-US economic prosperity deal. Mr Trump described Sir Keir as a friend and said he gave the British a rare tariff exemption because “I like them”.

President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One after leaving the G7 Leaders' Summit early. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

Mr Albanese will hold a bilateral meeting with Sir Keir on his final day at the G7 summit, when he is expected to exchange notes on how the British leader expertly negotiated with Mr Trump on tariff exemptions, defence spending and the AUKUS deal.

Sir Keir and Mr Albanese, who are close and have been in regular phone contact since both turfed out conservative governments, will engage in talks during a walk around the grounds of the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge, where G7 leaders are residing.

In response to the meeting with Mr Trump being cancelled, a spokeswoman for Mr Albanese said: “Given what is occurring in the Middle East this is understandable. As the Prime Minister said a short time ago, we are very concerned about the events in the Middle East and continue to urge all parties to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy.”

Sussan Ley said that, given global volatility and the growing list of issues in the US relationship, cancellation of the meeting with Mr Trump underscored the fact the government “should not have merely relied on meeting with the President on the sidelines of international summits”. “The Prime Minister should have been more proactive in ­seeking to strengthen this relationship – Australia’s most important – and we encourage him to change his approach to advance our national interest,” the Opposition Leader said.

The Coalition has been critical of Mr Albanese for not seeking to meet Mr Trump after his inauguration in January and ahead of the May 3 election.

Since February, Mr Trump has hosted world leaders and allies at the White House including: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Japan Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte, Mr Modi, Sir Keir and Mr Zelensky. Mr Trump also met leaders during his visit to the Vatican City for the funeral of Pope Francis.

Mr Albanese will return to Australia on Wednesday following meetings with Sir Keir, Mr Ishiba, Mr Merz, European Union Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa. He will also participate in a G7 session and working lunch on energy security. He will use his meeting with European leaders to greenlight talks on a non-binding bilateral security and defence partnership and discuss ongoing negotiations for a EU free trade agreement.