Albanese Justifies Cancelling Trump Talks Amid Fresh Meeting Prospects

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Key Points

US President Donald Trump left the G7 summit in Canada ahead of planned discussions with leaders from various nations.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed that the president’s departure was “completely understandable”.
Albanese is contemplating participating in the forthcoming NATO summit, which could present another chance to engage with Trump.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stood by the decision to cancel an in-person meeting with US President Donald Trump after holding discussions with other global leaders and US delegates at the G7 summit.

In his first address to reporters since the cancellation of the meeting, Albanese stated that Trump’s priorities were “completely understandable”.

“We’ll meet soon, and I’m confident that it will happen. Occasionally, meetings get rescheduled, and that’s just how it is,” he mentioned in Kananaskis, Canada.

Albanese noted that Australia wasn’t the only nation that had its meeting with the US leader rearranged.

“The [US] president has been engaged, obviously, with the circumstances around Iran and Israel,” Albanese said.

“That meant that the meetings that were scheduled — not just with myself, but with India, Ukraine, including [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, Mexico and other countries, didn’t go ahead today.

“But we’re all mature about that. We understand the circumstances which are there.”

Albanese revealed that although he had met with US officials overnight, Trump had not been in direct contact regarding the cancelled meeting.

PM weighing up attending NATO

Albanese is considering returning overseas within days to attend The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, which could offer another opportunity to meet with Trump.

NATO leaders will meet in The Hague, Netherlands, on 24-25 June. Trump is expected to be in attendance as he pushes for European allies to boost their defence budgets.

The summit could provide Albanese with an opportunity to pick up discussions on US tariffs and the AUKUS agreement, which is under review in Washington.

“Yes, that is being considered,” Albanese said, responding to SBS News’ questions about whether the NATO summit was on the agenda.

Men in blue suits sitting on arm chairs in a meeting room.

Despite Anthony Albanese not meeting with Donald Trump, he did have a meeting with US treasury secretary Scott Bessent overnight. Source: Supplied / Australian Government

Overnight, Albanese met with the US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, and US trade representative Jamieson Greer.

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s ambassador to the US, was also in attendance at these talks, which the prime minister said centered on supporting the US concerning critical minerals and “Australia’s stance on tariffs,” emphasizing the ongoing history of free trade and a positive trade balance.

New security and defence partnership with the EU

The prime minister confirmed that negotiations for a new defence and security pact with the European Union are underway.

He said he was “pleased” following discussions with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council boss António Costa in Kananaskis.

“We see this as an important framework for our current and future cooperation in areas like defence industry, cyber- and counter-terrorism,” he told reporters.

“And we will have our respective ministers progress that over coming weeks. But we hope to conclude those discussions pretty quickly.”

The EU has similar deals in place with other allies, including Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

The pact, which Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles have been tasked with securing, would strengthen cooperation in light of global uncertainty.

It is understood that it wouldn’t include Australian troop deployment in the event that a EU member was attacked.