Anthony Albanese insists he will meet with US President Donald Trump before the end of the year
Anthony Albanese has insisted he will meet with his US counterpart before the end of the year.
National
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted a meeting with US President Donald Trump is on the cards before the end of the year.
“Well of course we will have meetings, there will be a range of meetings between now and the end of the year with President Trump,” Mr Albanese told Sky News’ Australia’s Economic Outlook forum on Friday.
Mr Albanese said he was not concerned when Mr Trump he did not call after their scheduled meeting at the G7 summit in Canada last month was cancelled.
“I’m not worried by someone making an understandable decision, which he did, to return to Washington,” Mr Albanese said.
“We will continue to put our case … but bear in mind that during the first Trump administration, it took some period of time for change to occur then as well,” he said.
He defended the government’s approach, insisting Australia was being constructive in its engagement with the US President.
“You know, when negotiating with (him) … he has said that there’s no more beautiful word in the English language than ‘tariff’,” Mr Albanese said.
“Now, we have a different view. That wouldn’t be in my top million of words.”
It comes after Mr Trump was “keen” to reschedule a meeting with Mr Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.
“I had a really good meeting with Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, and he expressed regret for the meeting having to be rescheduled,” Ms Wong told Sky News Australia on Thursday.
“I was pleased that Secretary Rubio was clear that obviously they are keen for a meeting, they want to reschedule it, it was disappointing as he said that they had to reschedule because the president had to return, as a consequence of what was occurring in the Middle East.”
Wong’s talks with Rubio and Quad partners from Japan and India in Washington DC on Wednesday resulted in an agreement to work together to diversify critical mineral supply chains.
As the clock continued to tick down on the Pentagon’s 30-day review of the trilateral AUKUS submarine agreement, Ms Wong said she put forward Australia’s case for the continuation of the defence pact.
“We spoke about deepening co-operation across the alliance, including through AUKUS, through critical minerals and regional security,” Ms Wong said on Wednesday.
US officials have repeatedly called on the Australian government to lift defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP but Ms Wong said that issue was not raised at her meetings with Mr Rubio.
Asked whether Australia’s relationship with the US was changing, she acknowledged the current administration was not maintaining the traditional status quo.
“I think that the Trump administration, or President Trump, has made very clear to the world that he envisages a different role for America in the world,” she said.
“We understand that, and we respect that. We continue to advocate for our interests.
“What I would say is our strategic partnership is deep. It is trusting. It is to the benefit of both nations.”
The group agreed to commit to a Quad Critical Minerals Initiative that will see the four countries work together to secure and diversify supply chains of the precious resources industry which is crucial to modern technology and currently dominated by China.
“We are deeply concerned about the abrupt constriction and future reliability of key supply chains, specifically for critical minerals,” the Quad leaders wrote in a joint statement.
“Reliance on any one country for processing and refining critical minerals and derivative goods production exposes our industries to economic coercion, price manipulation, and supply chain disruptions, which further harms our economic and national security.”
America’s top diplomat said he hoped to use the Quad meetings as a “vehicle for action” rather than just a forum to discuss ideas, noting the partnership between the four nations went well beyond defence.
“It’s largely, in many cases, about economic development,” he said.
“One (topic) that I’ve personally been very focused on is diversifying the global supply chain of critical minerals – not just access to the raw material but also access to the ability to process and refine it to usable material.
“It’s critical for all technologies and for all industries across the board. And so having a diverse and reliable global supply chain of these is just one example of many that we can focus on and build upon and achieve some real progress on.”
After Prime Minister Mr Albanese and Deputy Richard Marles were unable to secure meetings with Mr Trump at the G7 in Canada and then NATO at The Hague, Ms Wong was under pressure to plead Australia’s case on issues including tariffs and the AUKUS defence pact.
The Quad members first met in January in Mr Rubio’s first formal commitment after being sworn in.
In Washington on Tuesday, Ms Wong thanked him for his recent engagement with Australia on the Middle East conflict.
“The importance of our partnership is highlighted by the urgency of the strategic challenges that we all face,” she said.
“This is a very important Quad meeting, as always, and unfortunately we meet against the backdrop of conflict and of escalating competition so it has never been more important for us to harness our collective strength, peace and stability, for prosperity in the Indo Pacific and for all our peoples.”
She said the countries that together represent nearly a quarter of the world’s population “are stronger when we work together”.
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Originally published as Anthony Albanese insists he will meet with US President Donald Trump before the end of the year
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