Albanese’s Trump meeting is in the diary – now it’s a matter of managing it

With Anthony Albanese now having his long-awaited meeting with United States President Donald Trump locked in and announced by the White House, the prime ministerial attention will turn to managing an unpredictable encounter.

Having the October 20 face-to-face in Washington presents both more opportunities and extra risks than if it had been on the sidelines of this week’s United Nations leaders’ week.

Trump has not gone out of his way for the convenience of the Australian prime minister. Albanese, already scheduled to attend a round of international summits, will have to make a special trip to the US to see the president (just short of a year after Trump’s election).

Being in Washington will presumably enable the PM to speak to a range of administration figures.

But being in the White House makes it more of an “occasion”, encouraging Trump to be performative, positively or negatively. And if it comes with a room full of journalists, it can turn into a circus.

Albanese will put Australia’s core interests – primarily AUKUS (currently being reviewed by the Americans), regional security, and tariffs – to the fore in the discussion. One issue will be whether the Americans renew efforts for Australia to lift its defence spending. The government has recently come out with a range of defence initiatives – will there be more heading towards October 20?

Albanese will hope his obvious differences with the president – notably on Palestine and climate change – can be sidelined. Those two issues have been highlighted by the prime minister at the UN this week.

Australia, with a clutch of other countries, announced formal recognition of Palestine.

Albanese is promoting Australia’s push for investment for green energy and Australia is lobbying other countries to pressure Turkey to withdraw so we and Pacific countries can host the UN climate conference (COP) next year. Albanese told a news conference there was no outcome on the COP yet.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, who is also in New York, described the COP as “the biggest trade fair in the world”. Bowen is an enthusiast for obtaining the conference but some others around the government believe it could be more trouble than it is worth.

The COP, which would be held in Adelaide and attract tens of thousands of people, is a potential logistical nightmare, given there would be little more than a year to organise it and co-ordination with the Pacific countries would be testing.

Trump has attacked the decision on Palestine, seeing it as rewarding terrorism.

His attitude on climate was summed up in his line to the UN General Assembly: “If you don’t get away from this green energy scam, your country is going to fail”. He denounced renewables as a “joke”.

Asked whether his claims on climate and energy could affect investment and public perceptions in Australia, Albanese was dismissive. “President Trump gave a speech. He’s entitled to give that speech and to put his views. I don’t think that there are any views that he hasn’t said before.”

Centrally, Albanese in Washington will be wanting and needing to establish a good personal relationship with Trump.

In his rambling UN address, Trump said “I only do business with people I like”. It was a joke – sort of, but not really.

After the October meeting had been confirmed, Albanese (who later had a word with Trump at the president’s gala reception for world leaders) was inclined to lord it over journalists, who’d pursued him for months about when a meeting would happen. “As I’ve said, President Trump agreed to a meeting some time ago. We had another chat about it on the phone [recently],” he said. The prime minister wanted to make it all seem smooth and under control, but organising the October 20 get-together has been a nightmare for Australian officials, Albanese’s office and the Australian ambassador in Washington, Kevin Rudd.

In coming days Albanese, who goes to the United Kingdom for the second leg of his trip, will be able to get some tips on handling Trump from Keir Starmer. The British Labour prime minister has built a personal rapport with Trump, who quips amiably about their political differences.

For all the challenges of the Trump meeting, Albanese is likely to go into it confident. Since his triumphant election win, he seems very sure of himself about most things.