Albanese to come face-to-face with Trump as he sets off on summit blitz

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will have several chances to meet with United States President Donald Trump over the next fortnight as he starts a diplomatic blitz that will take him from climate negotiations in Turkey to security and trade talks in the Philippines and China.

Albanese on Monday said he would engage with Trump “respectfully and diplomatically” on issues such as the Iran war when they came face to face during a mooted Quad meeting on the sidelines of this month’s ASEAN summit in the Philippines.

The security partnership of Australia, the US, India and Japan has not held a leaders meeting since 2024, when Joe Biden was president, but US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month said the administration was “very enthusiastic” for the first in-person leaders meeting in two years in Manila.

Trump will this month make his first global summit showings since the Republicans suffered landslide losses in the US midterm elections. The president emerged bruised as the economic fallout caused by his war on Iran became one of several factors turning public sentiment against him.

While he suffers record low approval ratings at home, Trump is expected to make an impact on the world stage by attending the back-to-back Association of South East Asian Nations summit in Manila and the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in the tech hub of Shenzhen, China.

At APEC, the US president intends on meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin – a potentially historic meeting of the three powers that is likely to canvass the Ukraine war, Iran war and trade.

“One of the meetings, I think, will be with President Putin and President Xi, and that’ll be interesting,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. “We’re talking a lot of things, including denuclearisation, but we’ll be talking a lot of things. We’re trying to end the war in Iran.”

China’s foreign ministry has confirmed discussions about the meeting are under way.

Albanese will also be at both summits in Asia, but he will first attend the COP31 climate conference in the Turkish resort town of Antalya, which began on Monday. Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen is responsible for running formal talks at the 12-day event, which Australia is co-hosting with Turkey, while Albanese will attend the leaders’ segment in the first week.

The federal government will spend almost $150 million on Bowen’s role as president of negotiations. While Labor has argued its involvement is proving its climate credentials and fostering greater security ties with Pacific nations, opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan has accused the government of wrong priorities and wasting taxpayer money.

“While Australians are having to go without, Labor is splashing millions on yet another overseas climate conference,” Tehan said.

The series of November summits kicks off less than a week after Albanese returned from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the Caribbean, which he attended at the personal invitation of King Charles despite political pressure mounting at home over further interest rate rises.

While the CHOGM trip also attracted criticism for delivering few outcomes, the summits in Manila and Shenzhen will be significant as they draw the United Nations secretary general alongside dozens of world leaders, including several from outside the region, in high-stakes talks on defence, trade, security and artificial intelligence.

Asked whether he would use the Quad meeting in the Philippines to demand Trump end the war in Iran, Albanese told reporters on Monday: “What I’ll do is engage with President Trump respectfully and diplomatically. That’s what I do. I engage with leaders in a respectful way.”

“Obviously, that is an issue that will be a topic, but I’ll engage constructively as I’ve developed a constructive relationship with President Trump,” Albanese said.

“Australia has for some time now repeatedly said that there is a real impact of the conflict in the Middle East. Everyone knows that’s the case.”

With Reuters

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