Australian PM to press Trump on tariffs, defence pact

SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he will meet with US President Donald Trump at next week´s G7 meeting in Canada where he plans to discuss trade tariffs and a defence pact put under review by Washington.

The G7 summit starting on Sunday in the Canadian Rockies town of Kananaskis marks the first major global gathering of Trump´s second term. “We do have a meeting scheduled,” Albanese told reporters, adding that he expected “a constructive engagement”.

“We´ll raise tariffs, we´ll raise the importance as well of AUKUS, and we will have a discussion as two friends should,” he said from Seattle, as he makes his way to the G7 summit.

The 2021 AUKUS deal joins Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in a multi-decade effort to balance China´s growing military might. The deal aims to arm Australia with a fleet of cutting-edge, nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and provides for cooperation in developing an array of warfare technologies.

The Trump administration put the pact under review last week, but Australian officials said it was “perfectly natural for an incoming administration to do”. “The context of the AUKUS discussions will be what Australia contributes, the potential that AUKUS has to allow for a range of benefits to the United States,” he said.

Australia, a close US ally, has been slugged with a blanket 10 percent tariff on goods exported to the United States -- rising to 50 percent on steel and aluminium -- as part of Trump´s sweeping global duties .