Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has had a “warm and constructive” phone call on trade and security with US President Donald Trump.
Mr Albanese revealed the call – the fourth between the pair – in a social media post just before midnight on Thursday.
“We discussed our trade and economic relationship as well as areas for growth including critical minerals,” he said in the post on X.
“We also discussed shared US-Australia security interests.”
But there was no word on when the two leaders will hold their first face-to-face meeting, which Australia has been pursuing since Mr Trump’s elevation to the presidency in November.
The two were expected to have talks in June on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Canada but the meeting was cancelled after Mr Trump returned to the US early to deal with issues in the Middle East.
The call comes just weeks ahead of a United Nations general assembly meeting at which Australia is expected to join the UK, France, Canada and others in pushing for the recognition of a Palestinian state.
It also comes amid concerted efforts by Australia to get relief from Mr Trump’s tariffs regime, after he imposed a base line levy of 10 per cent on Australian goods imports to the US and a 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium.
At the same time, the US is reviewing the AUKUS trilateral security alliance, under which Australia is expected to spend $386 billion on nuclear powered attack submarines, to ensure it aligns with Mr Trump’s “America first” agenda.
The US has been pushing Australia to raise its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product.
The government is currently spending 2.02 per cent with a view to increasing that sum to 2.33 per cent of GDP by 2033/34.
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