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(Bloomberg) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s first in-person meeting with Donald Trump was canceled after the president decided to leave a Group of Seven summit early to focus on the conflict between Israel and Iran.
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Trump’s change of plans was announced as Albanese was holding a news conference Monday on the sidelines of the G-7 meeting in Canada, where he was outlining issues he intended to discuss with the president — trade and the Aukus accord — at their talks the following day. It was later confirmed that the meeting planned for Tuesday would not go ahead.
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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was departing for Washington to attend to important matters. In a post on X, she cited “what’s going on in the Middle East” as the reason. A spokesperson for Albanese said the president’s decision was understandable, and that the prime minister’s schedule for the rest of the summit would continue as planned.
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Albanese has been trying to get an audience with Trump to seek an exemption for Australia from US tariffs on steel and aluminum and to make the case for the Aukus security agreement that’s under review in Washington. Given the importance of dealing directly with Trump in order to obtain decisions, it’s a missed opportunity for Australia.
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The Aukus defense pact that the US signed with Australia and the UK in 2021 was designed to counter China’s military expansion in the Indo-Pacific region. Central to the agreement is a project — expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars — to help Australia develop a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines over a 30-year period.
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Australia’s center-right opposition, which was defeated soundly by Albanese in a May 3 election, said the prime minister should not have “merely relied” on meeting on the sidelines of summits.
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“This was an important opportunity for the Prime Minister to seek assurances on AUKUS and protect Australia from tariffs,” Liberal leader Sussan Ley said in a statement. “The Prime Minister should have been more proactive in seeking to strengthen this relationship – Australia’s most important.”
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One positive was that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who earlier held a press conference with Trump, said that “we’re proceeding with” Aukus, with the president in agreement.
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—With assistance from Ben Westcott.
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English (US)