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Anthony Albanese has had a “very warm” conversation with Donald Trump about tariffs and Aukus, foreshadowing a coming meeting with the US president after Labor’s election win.
Trump was asked earlier on Monday about the Australian election at the White House. He said “I’m very friendly with” Albanese, but distanced himself from Liberal leader Peter Dutton.
“I don’t know anything about the election other than the man that won [Albanese], he’s very good,” Trump said.
“I have no idea who the other person is that ran against him.”
Praising Albanese, Trump claimed the pair were “very friendly”. The remarks followed an election campaign in which Labor strongly criticised Dutton for mirroring some Trump policies, including describing the opposition as “Dogey-y”, and claimed the Coalition would “Americanise” the health system.
Albanese on Monday held his first press conference after Saturday’s election victory, saying he was “optimistic” about the future and again committing Labor to being an “orderly” government with a “positive” agenda. The re-elected prime minister praised his team’s efforts in overseeing reduced inflation and interest rates, and seeing wages and employment rising.
“I said from that first day I became Labor leader, back in 2019, that I want Labor to be the natural party of government,” Albanese said.
“I think given who we are, representing working people, but also effectively engaging with business and engaging with civil society, that we can make what is the best country on earth even better in the future. I am genuinely so optimistic that if we get this decade right, we can set Australia up for the many decades ahead.”
Albanese had on Sunday said he’d spoken to the leaders of Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, France and the UK, and looked forward to calls with the presidents of Indonesia and Ukraine. At the time, however, he shrugged off a question about whether Trump was on his call sheet, saying “My job here is to represent Australia’s national interest and that’s what I’ll be doing”.
Albanese on Monday revealed he had now spoken to Trump, as well as the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney – who invited him to join the G7 meeting in Alberta next month – and would soon speak to the leaders of India, Singapore and Thailand.
“I had a warm and positive conversation with President Trump, just a short while ago, when I was at the Lodge, and I thank him for his very warm message of congratulations,” Albanese said.
“We talked about Aukus and tariffs. We’ll continue to engage, we’ll engage with each other on a face-to -ace basis at some time in the future. But it was very warm, and I thank him for reaching out in such a positive way as well.”
Albanese and Trump could cross paths at the G7, which will be held in Kananaskis, Alberta, from 15-17 June.
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Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs on all overseas imports to America, which included putting a 10% levy on Australian goods, were announced early in the election period. Dutton’s Liberal campaign portrayed the tariffs as a major failing of the Albanese government, saying Labor should have better leveraged Australia’s diplomatic and military relationship with the United States.
Albanese strongly criticised the tariffs, calling them “an act of economic self-harm” and “not the act of a friend”.
Pressed about Albanese’s critical comments on the tariffs, Trump replied: “I can only say that he’s been very, very nice to me, very respectful to me.”
“We have had a very good relationship.”
Labor had strongly condemned Dutton and the Coalition for policy positions which echoed some from Trump. Albanese’s campaign had ridiculed Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and her family for wearing Trump merchandise including ‘Make America Great Again’ hats, after the senator called to ‘make Australia great again’.
Despite appearing to mirror several Trump policies, including naming Price to a “government efficiency” role reminiscent of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency”, Dutton shrugged off comparisons to the US president, and denied that his plans to slash the public service, including cutting roles associated with the education department and those in diversity and inclusion positions, were influenced by Trump.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, claimed that Dutton’s “threatened cuts to school funding, which was right from the Doge [Elon Musk’s so-called department of government efficiency] playbook”.
