Scott Morrison secures one-on-one meeting with Donald Trump at G20

Scott Morrison is due to hold a formal one-on-one meeting with Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires tomorrow.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media after arriving for the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.

Scott Morrison is due to hold a formal one-on-one meeting with Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires tomorrow, the first meeting between the two leaders, against the backdrop of urgent calls for a cessation of the US-China trade war that threatens to undermine global growth.

Both Mr Morrison’s office and the White House today confirmed the US President would hold talks with the Prime Minister about 4.55am (AEDT) on Saturday in a “pull-aside” meeting following official meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Senior Morrison government sources said a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 had been on the agenda, despite earlier reports of a snub.

In a tweet, Mr Morrison said he looked forward to meeting his US counterpart.

“We both know that a strong economy and national security is the foundation for everything else,” Mr Morrison said.

Looking forward to meeting with President Trump later today in Buenos Aires at the G20. We both know that a strong economy and national security is the foundation for everything else. pic.twitter.com/QAkdEMqKSy

— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) November 30, 2018

The last minute call-up came in the wake of Mr Trump’s abrupt cancellation of a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has faced international condemnation over a naval assault on Ukraine.

It is understood the meeting with the US President was slotted in after Mr Morrison’s first bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the submarines project. It is believed that a planned bilateral with the EU Commission had to be pushed back to accommodate the meeting with Mr Trump.

The Weekend Australian understands the Trump administration views Mr Morrison as a hardliner on border protection and has looked favourably on the Prime Minister’s pushback against Iran and his review considering shifting Australia’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Mr Morrison will also hold meetings with the OECD to ­discuss the earlier release of an Australian-inspired gender-divide report.

The theme of this year’s G20 meeting, “building a global consensus”, has been overshadowed as it has in the past by security concerns over Russian belligerence and the rise of protectionism ­fuelled by the US-China trade conflict.

US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump arrive in Buenos Aires on the eve of the G20 Leaders' Summit.

Arriving in the Argentinian capital on Friday for the two-day summit, Mr Morrison said he was confident that the US and China would reach an agreement to scale back tensions before the trade conflict became a tariff war, having earlier described failure to do so as an “own goal” for the global economy. “I believe that both China and the United States are very keen to see a more open trading environment around the world, more trade all across the world and particularly between their two nations and we all benefit from that,” the Prime Minister said.

With the US President and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping due to meet on Sunday, hopes of an agreement had faded, with Mr Trump sending mixed messages ahead of the summit. “I think we’re very close to doing something with China, but I don’t know that I want to do it because what we have right now is billions and billions of dollars coming into the United States in the form of tariffs or taxes,” Mr Trump said.

“So I really don’t know. But I will tell you that I think China wants to make a deal. I’m open to making a deal. But, frankly, I like the deal we have right now.”

The Weekend Australian understands that the Australian-led global growth target agreed to by the world’s major economies in 2014 has also been removed from this year’s G20 agenda amid the US-China trade crisis.

Australian officials are believed to have failed in attempts over past days to revive the formal agreement that bound member countries to grow their collective economies by at least 2.1 per cent by this year. Australian sources confirmed the G20 had failed to meet the target, which was not “explicitly” on the agenda and had been put off until the end of the year or early next year. The Brisbane Action Plan, secured by Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey when Australia hosted the 2014 G20 in Brisbane, was forecast to add $2 trillion to the world economy.

The Weekend Australian understands member nations believe the US-China trade war took precedent, with world leaders urging Mr Trump and Mr Xi to reach a de-escalation agreement. A report released in October singled out Australia as a potential casualty and revised down annual economic growth forecasts for next year as a result.

Mr Morrison will tomorrow meet EU leaders to talk about the WTO and an upcoming free trade deal, and Brazilian President Michel Temer to discuss boosting trade.