KEY POINTS:
- The government has revealed new details of Joe Biden's trip to Australia.
- Mr Biden will become the first US President to address parliament in nearly a decade.
- President Biden is set to travel in the middle of high-stakes negotiations on the US debt ceiling.
New details have emerged on US President Joe Biden's trip Down Under.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed former US President Barack Obama to Kirribilli House in March, and his running mate is hot on his heels.
Mr Biden will make Australia his third stop in a whirlwind international tour, which also includes a visit to the site of the world's first atomic bomb and a stop in the Pacific with Beijing's rising influence in mind.
But as his rival Donald Trump stokes a high-stakes game of chicken at home, could parts of the trip be thrown into doubt?
Here's what you need to know.
What's on Mr Biden's itinerary?
We already knew Mr Albanese will welcome Mr Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, when the four leaders sit down for the Quad leaders' summit.
But it's now confirmed he'll arrive the day before, travelling between Sydney and Canberra, for one-on-one talks with Mr Albanese.
President Biden faces storms on the home front. Source: AP / Carolyn Kaster
But he's got a packed schedule even before landing Down Under.
He'll visit Hiroshima, Japan - where the US dropped the world's first atomic bomb - for the Group of Seven summit this week.
Then it's a quick stop in PNG, with curbing growing Chinese influence in the Pacific a priority of President Biden's administration.
What's the situation in the US?
President Biden is set to travel in the middle of high-stakes negotiations on the US debt ceiling.
The situation has even raised rumours he may be forced to cut his trip short.
The US debt ceiling is set to expire on 1 June, with the Treasury Department warning the US government will be unable to pay its bills beyond that date unless the White House and Congress agree to raise it.
Asked whether he'd understand a last-minute change of plans from President Biden, Mr Albanese simply said: "I look forward to welcoming President Biden to Australia".
Annual debt ceiling negotiations have routinely been a game of chicken, used by both parties to extract concessions before striking a deal, often at the eleventh hour.
The US has never defaulted on its debt.
In a 2021 report, the White House Council of Economic Advisors was stark on the possible impacts of that changing: a global recession, frozen credit markets across the world, decimated stock markets, and mass unemployment globally.
Donald Trump, a frontrunner for the Republican nomination, has escalated rhetoric over the debt ceiling. Source: AP / Morry Gash
“I say to the Republicans out there: if they don’t give you massive cuts, you’re going to have to do a default,” he said last week.
"I think the Democrats will absolutely cave, will absolutely cave because you don’t want to have that happen. But it’s better than what we’re doing right now, because we’re spending money like drunken sailors.”
