Key Points
- US President Donald Trump left the G7 summit in Canada before scheduled talks with leaders of several nations.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the president's decision was "completely understandable".
- Albanese is considering attending the upcoming NATO summit, which could offer another opportunity to meet with Trump.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended the cancellation of a face-to-face meeting with United States President Donald Trump, following meetings with other world leaders and US officials at the G7 summit.
Trump pulled the plug on the Australian bilateral talks and returned to Washington to deal with the escalating Middle East crisis.
Addressing reporters for the first time since the sideline meeting was cancelled, Albanese said Trump's focus was "completely understandable".
"We'll meet soon, and I'm sure that that will occur. You know, from time to time, meetings are rescheduled. That's what happens," he said in Kananaskis, Canada.
Albanese said Australia was not the only country to have its meeting with the US leader rescheduled.
"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.
Although Anthony Albanese's meeting with Donald Trump was cancelled, he met with US treasury secretary Scott Bessent overnight. Source: Supplied / Australian Government
Australia's ambassador to US Kevin Rudd was also at the talks, which the prime minister said focused on supporting the US on critical minerals and "Australia's position on tariffs", reiterating the history of free trade and a trade surplus.
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.
