Prime Minister May Join NATO Leaders Summit After Cancelled Trump Meeting

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is considering a last-minute trip to Europe next week to attend the NATO leaders’ summit in The Hague.

With U.S. President Donald Trump expected to attend the summit, there are speculations that Albanese may secure a meeting this time following the abrupt cancellation of his scheduled meeting with Trump at the G7 summit in Canada on June 17.

“I’m considering [going]. I had discussions with a range of people over the last couple of days, obviously, including I met with the NATO secretary general yesterday,” Albanese told reporters, as the G7 wrapped up in Kananaskis.

Trump had been due to meet Albanese to discuss Australia’s defence spending and the AUKUS nuclear submarines agreement. However, the U.S. president left the summit a day early to return to Washington to respond to the escalating Middle East conflict.

Speaking about the cancelled meeting, Albanese said, “We’re all mature about that. We understand the circumstances which are there, and we have agreed through our American friends that we’ll reschedule the meeting.”

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Treasurer Jim Chalmers both played down the cancellation, emphasising that further opportunities for engagement would arise.

Marles pointed out that meetings with other key leaders—including those from India, Mexico and Ukraine—were also scrapped as Trump departed early.

“We are working very closely with the United States on all the equities in our relationship, and I’m sure that in the not-too-distant future, we’ll have a face-to-face meeting between our two leaders,” he said on ABC News.

He added that the relationship remains robust.

“There’s already been a number of phone calls between the prime minister and the president, and our relationship is conducted at so many levels. Our officials talk literally all the time,” Marles said.

Albanese had intended to use the planned meeting to push for Australia’s exemption from Trump’s revived trade tariffs.

Chalmers said discussions on the matter remain active.

“They’ve been going on for some months now and they will continue. We will continue to speak up for and stand up for Australian workers and businesses and investors and interests as we have done so far. There’ll be other ways that we can do that, other opportunities to do that,” he told RN Breakfast.

Opposition Calls for Stronger Engagement

Albanese has faced criticism from the opposition for relying on a brief summit window for the high-level meeting.

Shadow Foreign Minister Sussan Ley described the missed engagement as a lost opportunity to defend national interests.

“Given global volatility and the growing list of issues in our relationship with the United States, this underscores that the Albanese government should not have merely relied on meeting with the president on the sidelines of international summits,” she said.

“This was an important opportunity for the prime minister to seek assurances on AUKUS and protect Australia from tariffs.”