Albanese eyes next week's NATO summit as he seeks rescheduled Trump meeting
Anthony Albanese is considering attending next week's NATO summit as he tries to land a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump, after a scheduled sideline chat at the G7 fell through when the US president left early.
The PM ruled out deploying naval assets to the Middle East even as allies weigh support for a possible US intervention in Iran after Israel began strikes.
Speaking to reporters in Canada shortly before leaving the summit, Mr Albanese said Australia's military focus remained on "where we are in the world" but that he may replace Defence Minister Richard Marles at the NATO gathering in the Netherlands.
Mr Trump, who has demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender" and teased direct involvement in the Israeli offensive, will attend the meeting of the military alliance, of which Australia is not a member.
Mr Albanese said it was "perfectly understandable" that the US president had cut short his G7 attendance before the leaders could meet in person for the first time and added he was "sure" that they would meet "soon".
The US president told reporters he left the G7 summit early because he "did everything [he] had to do".
Australia did not receive advance warning of the cancellation and the PM has not received a phone call in its wake, a courtesy given to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum whose meeting was also missed.
"We're all mature … We understand the circumstances which are there and we have agreed through our American friends that we'll reschedule the meeting," he said.
In Mr Trump's absence, the PM held last-minute talks with his economic team, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and principle economic adviser Kevin Hassett.
Mr Albanese said he took the opportunity to press Australia's case for exemptions from tariffs on steel and aluminium and the all-encompassing 10 per cent tariff, and again signalled giving the US access to Australian critical minerals as a bargaining chip.
"My clear point is that it's in the United States' interest, because they have a trade surplus with Australia, for that trade to not just continue but to be enhanced. And there are opportunities to do that across a range of issues," he said.
He also confirmed he had addressed US concerns about Australia's new tax for social media platforms who do not pay news companies for their content, arguing the tax was not meant to raise revenue from American tech platforms.
"I explained the position of what it is … It's something that we want the platforms to negotiate in good faith with the produces of a product that they use to make money."
The PM also announced Australia would begin negotiating with European Union leaders for a security and defence partnership to enhance co-operation.
"We see this as an important framework for our current and future co-operation in areas like defence industry, cyber and counter-terrorism," he said, adding that ministers would discuss the partnership in coming weeks and hoped to finalise it "pretty quickly".
Mr Albanese added that a European free trade agreement was progressing and that there was "sight of where the landing point could be" on sticking points including naming rights for products such as parmesan.
The announcement followed a meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and European Council President Antonio Costa, one of several bilateral meetings held on the last day of the summit including with Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom.
With UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Mr Albanese said he discussed the AUKUS alliance and had seen "nothing to suggest" any weakening in support for the alliance from the US despite the recent announcement of a review.
The UK government has not ruled out supporting Israel and the US in an escalation of hostilities in Iran, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has backed Israel's actions.
Mr Albanese said Australia had received briefings about the situation from the US but downplayed any prospect of Australian involvement.
Richard Marles told the ABC Australia continued to call for "de-escalation" and took "at face value" public statements from US officials suggesting the country was for now taking a "defensive posture … of their people and their assets within the region".
"We want to see a move towards diplomacy and dialogue and I guess implied in that obviously is a very clear concern that we have about the opposite, about this escalating into some broader conflict," he said.
"We have a system of full knowledge and concurrence in terms of the way in which any country operates from Australia and that includes the Untied States. And we are not a part of this conflict."
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