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Why Trump wanted to give Albo - and Rudd - a win · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, October twenty two, twenty twenty five. How do
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  Speaker 1: you stop the flow of illegal tobacco into Australia? According
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  Speaker 1: a notorious gangster. Assistant Commissioner Tony Smith says the Force
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  Speaker 1: access a whole host of sites and services. Those stories
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  Speaker 1: alive right now at the Australian dot Com Dot a U.
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  Speaker 1: A triumph at the White House that reshapes the Australia
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  Speaker 1: US relationship and no, Kevin Rudd shouldn't be sacked. That's
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  Speaker 1: the take from our editor at large, Paul Kelly on
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  Speaker 1: Anthony Albanese's long awaited house call on Donald Trump in Washington, DC. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Tuesday morning in the White House and it's no wonder
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  Speaker 1: Anthony Albanesi is smiling.
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  Speaker 2: The man of my rad has a big advantage, you
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  Speaker 2: know that, right. But I think he's doing it. I
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  Speaker 2: think he's doing a really good job. And we've had
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  Speaker 2: a very good relationship. I don't want to compare one
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  Speaker 2: with the other, but i'll tell you this one is
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  Speaker 2: they've got a great They really have a great.
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  Speaker 1: Prime Minister Albanese's first face to face meeting with the
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  Speaker 1: re elected Donald Trump went better than could possibly have
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  Speaker 1: been imagined, and the White House's succinct takeout tells us
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  Speaker 1: a lot about how the administration perceives US President Donald J.
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  Speaker 1: Trump closes billion dollar deals with Australia. That's how the
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  Speaker 1: White House headlined its media release, trumpeting agreements to develop
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  Speaker 1: critical minerals together, for Australia to purchase billions in American weaponry,
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  Speaker 1: for Australian super funds to dramatically increase their investment in
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  Speaker 1: the US, and for close collaboration on quantum computing and AI.
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  Speaker 1: Paul Kelly is The Australian's Editor at large. Paul, we
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  Speaker 1: know Donald Trump likes to win. Who's the real winner here?
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  Speaker 3: There are two big winners here. Anthony Alberanzi and Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 3: And that's the entire point. This is a tremendous victory
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  Speaker 3: for Anthony Albanisi. I mean, for the last nine months,
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  Speaker 3: there's been massive speculation that he's not up to the job,
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  Speaker 3: that he couldn't get on with Donald Trump, that he
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  Speaker 3: wouldn't be able to further the interests of the alliance.
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  Speaker 3: This was the relentless attack from the coalition parties. Well,
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  Speaker 3: we've had the meeting. How did it go? Ronald Trump
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  Speaker 3: praised Anthony albans as a great leader, he praised the alliance,
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  Speaker 3: He endorsed the Orchest Nuclear Powered Submarine agreement, and we
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  Speaker 3: got a fantastic new agreement on critical minerals between Australia
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  Speaker 3: and the United States. So this meeting wasn't just a
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  Speaker 3: face saver for Anthony Albanisi. What's actually happened is that
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  Speaker 3: alberan EASi and Donald Trump are taking the Australian American
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  Speaker 3: Alliance to a new level, to a new stage. This
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  Speaker 3: is really a great sense of triumph for both leaders.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know anything about him, man, if you said bad,
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  Speaker 2: then maybe he'll like to apologize. I really, I know,
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  Speaker 2: did an ambassador to say something bad about it. Don't
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  Speaker 2: tell me anat where is he is? You're still working.
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  Speaker 4: For you.
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  Speaker 2: Said bad.
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  Speaker 3: Position is to president.
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  Speaker 2: And probably never will.
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  Speaker 1: There was an awkward moment when Ambassador Kevin Rudd's history
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  Speaker 1: of criticizing Trump was brought up. Right apologized, Albanezy laughed
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  Speaker 1: it off and Trump laughed too. How did you read
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  Speaker 1: that exchange?
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  Speaker 3: It was a fascinating moment, wasn't it. And I think
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  Speaker 3: you know, the media has got terribly carried away with it.
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  Speaker 3: I think the interesting thing was Trump didn't really know
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  Speaker 3: who Kevin Rudd was, and then of course he made
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  Speaker 3: the comment, well I don't like you, and we're reverently
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  Speaker 3: told that. After that, Rd apologized and all sweet. The
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  Speaker 3: point I'd make about that is the coalition fell for it.
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  Speaker 3: We had the coalition leader Susan Lee then subsequently saying
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  Speaker 3: that she thinks the Australian government should recall Kevin Rudd.
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  Speaker 4: Well, Kevin Rudd really was the elephant in the room, Pete.
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  Speaker 1: And it's a bit awkward, isn't it.
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  Speaker 4: It's taken nearly a year to get this met and
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  Speaker 4: that's been a failure of the ambassador and I think
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  Speaker 4: that tells us.
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  Speaker 1: All we need to.
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  Speaker 4: Know about the fact that it's probably not reasonable that
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  Speaker 4: he continue in the role because there are critically important
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  Speaker 4: issues to address and please.
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  Speaker 3: These people aren't serious the idea that the Australian government
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  Speaker 3: should turn around after a brilliantly successful meeting between Trump
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  Speaker 3: and Alberansi and decide that, oh, it's all Kevin Rudd's
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  Speaker 3: fault for some reason, because the coalitions complaining we must
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  Speaker 3: withdraw Kevin Rudd because of the comments made by Donald Trump. Well,
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  Speaker 3: I don't think Donald Trump particularly cares one way or
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  Speaker 3: another about Kevin Rudd. That was pretty clear. What we
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  Speaker 3: do know about Donald Trump is he was prepared to
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  Speaker 3: do some deals big time with Anthony Albanesi, and that
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  Speaker 3: is what counts. The other point I'd make about this
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  Speaker 3: is this meeting is a victory for Kevin Rudd. Rudd
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  Speaker 3: has been all organizing the critical mineral strategy for the
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  Speaker 3: last several months, so in this sense, in terms of
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  Speaker 3: the outcome, in terms of the result, this is a
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  Speaker 3: very significant outcome and a very significant win for Kevin Rudd.
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  Speaker 3: That's the reality that the coalition doesn't get. They are
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  Speaker 3: so out of touch with Australian American relations. They've been
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  Speaker 3: out of touch for nine months. Most of what they've
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  Speaker 3: said for the last nine months is either misleading or
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  Speaker 3: playing wrong, and they still haven't learned.
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump obviously doesn't mind people who have a history
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  Speaker 1: of criticizing him. You know, maybe he thinks that they've
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  Speaker 1: just seen the light.
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  Speaker 3: Jd.
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  Speaker 1: Vance is a great example of that. Marco Rubio too,
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  Speaker 1: and they were both there at that meeting. Today they've
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  Speaker 1: said much worse things about Donald Trump than Kevin Rudd has.
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  Speaker 5: What does that tell us?
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  Speaker 1: Do you think about the kind of politician and maybe
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  Speaker 1: even person Donald Trump is.
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  Speaker 3: Donald Trump is a paradox. He's a conundrum. He's unpredictable.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes he nurses grievances and other times he turns around
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  Speaker 3: and changes his mind, pivoting on a dime if you like.
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  Speaker 3: Trump can be often difficult to read. But the point
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  Speaker 3: to make about Trump is he's a transactional politician. Now,
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  Speaker 3: this is very important. If you're a transactional politician, it
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  Speaker 3: means you're a pragmatist. It means you will look at
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  Speaker 3: the bottom line, you will look at the balance sheet,
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  Speaker 3: you will look at what a particular proposal is there
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  Speaker 3: to offer you. And what happened on this particular occasion
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  Speaker 3: was Anthony Alberize. He came to Washington bearing gifts. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: we are giving the United States a lot under the
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  Speaker 3: Orcice Agreement, and we're giving them a lot under the
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  Speaker 3: Critical Mineralist Agreement. So Trump looks at the bottom line
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  Speaker 3: as a transactional president and he says, yeah, I'll take that.
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  Speaker 5: Coming up with Paul Kelly.
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  Speaker 1: And then Albanizi is of the left of the Labor Party,
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  Speaker 1: but he certainly has critics who are much further left
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  Speaker 1: than him, both within Labor and without. How do you
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  Speaker 1: think they will respond to this? And what does it
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  Speaker 1: tell us about Albanesi that he's prepared to be Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump's best friend if that's what it takes.
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  Speaker 3: Look, this is a really good question and I think
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  Speaker 3: the answer is quite illuminating. Here. Albanzi, as a former
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  Speaker 3: left wing activist, is now in the most extraordinary position.
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  Speaker 3: He is a Prime minister who has utter command of
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  Speaker 3: the Labor Party, now engaging with Donald Trump in a
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  Speaker 3: deepening of the strategic and military ties between Australia and
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  Speaker 3: the United States, and the left in the Labor Party
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  Speaker 3: to the extent they don't like this can do nothing
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  Speaker 3: about it at all, because Albanesi has total command of
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  Speaker 3: the Labor Party, so that is particularly fascinating. Let's then
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  Speaker 3: talk about the left outside the Labor Party, in particular
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  Speaker 3: the Greens. They hate this, they can't stomach this, They
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  Speaker 3: oppose orcus they're hostile to this meeting between Trump and Albanesi.
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  Speaker 3: They will complain about it till the cows come home.
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  Speaker 3: And you know what, Albanesi will love them complaining because
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  Speaker 3: it will make him look like the centrist that he is.
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  Speaker 3: In so many ways. The point about this meeting between
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  Speaker 3: Trump and Albanesi is, in domestic terms, it reinforces Albanese's
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  Speaker 3: quest to cast himself as the natural Prime Minister, the
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  Speaker 3: natural centrist. And if you are going to be the
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  Speaker 3: natural prime Minister, one of the requirements is you must
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  Speaker 3: be a champion of the Australian American Alliance. Well, guess what.
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  Speaker 3: That's what Albanzi now is.
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  Speaker 1: Albanze likes to say that he's been underestimated all his life. Certainly,
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  Speaker 1: until perhaps a couple of weeks ago, we didn't know
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  Speaker 1: what this meeting was going to look like and whether
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  Speaker 1: it would happen at all, or whether it could go
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  Speaker 1: badly wrong within the meeting itself. Do you think that
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  Speaker 1: underestimation that he perceives in his critics is part of
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  Speaker 1: why there was so much doubt about how this meeting
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  Speaker 1: would go.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's partly a factor. There's no doubt at
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  Speaker 3: all that Albanesi has been underestimated and he has been
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  Speaker 3: underestimated by the Coalition in terms of his capacity to
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  Speaker 3: deal with Trump and his capacity to deal with the
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  Speaker 3: United States. However, it's also true that Albanese took a
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  Speaker 3: lot of risks. Just think about what's happened over the
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  Speaker 3: course of the year. He was not prepared to significantly
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  Speaker 3: increase defense spending, which is what the Americans wanted. He
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  Speaker 3: changed Australian policy on Israel, which is not what the
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  Speaker 3: Americans liked. He engaged in a recognition of a Palestinian state.
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  Speaker 3: He attacked the American administration and Trump over tariffs, made
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  Speaker 3: it absolutely clear that he didn't like what they were
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  Speaker 3: doing on tariffs. When you put all this together, you
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  Speaker 3: can see but Albanese, he's actually taken quite a lot
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  Speaker 3: of risks in dealing with Trump, and you can understand
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  Speaker 3: a number of people suggesting, well, things mightn't go all
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  Speaker 3: that well when they finally meet. But what's happened is
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  Speaker 3: Albanese's vindicated. Trump offered him a lot of concessions. Trump
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  Speaker 3: didn't complain about defense spending, he offered Albanese and out
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  Speaker 3: on defense spending, he said, in relation to the tariffs
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  Speaker 3: that Australia's tariffs were the lightest of any country. And
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  Speaker 3: while he didn't cut the tariffs, of course no one
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  Speaker 3: expected him to. But again, if you like, he reinforced
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  Speaker 3: the point that Alberanzi had made about the tariffs. So
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  Speaker 3: I think the really interesting point to make about this
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  Speaker 3: is Trump decided he wanted this meeting to be a success.
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  Speaker 3: Trump decided that he wanted to get on with Albanzi,
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  Speaker 3: and he decided there was significant advantages for the United
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  Speaker 3: States in him doing that. And that is a tribute
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  Speaker 3: to ALBANIZI.
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  Speaker 1: Is there luck there for Australia In the timing that
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  Speaker 1: China had just shocked the White House by saying it
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  Speaker 1: might introduce export controls on rare earths suddenly or gradually,
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  Speaker 1: Trump needed an ally who's got a lot of minerals
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  Speaker 1: in the ground.
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  Speaker 3: Look, the great irony about this meeting and the timing
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  Speaker 3: of the meeting is that the delayed meeting was great
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  Speaker 3: news for Australia and great news for Albanesi because essentially,
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  Speaker 3: as you have just said, we've had China making this
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  Speaker 3: recent announcement about its obsession to monopolize control and supply
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  Speaker 3: lines of critical minerals and rare earths, and of course
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  Speaker 3: Trump responded very aggressively to that. Well, this played beautifully
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  Speaker 3: into Australia's hands in terms of the Australian initiative on
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  Speaker 3: critical minerals. So yes, I think one of the great
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  Speaker 3: ironies of this situation is that it's suited alb and
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  Speaker 3: Easy to be only seeing Trump at this time rather
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  Speaker 3: than seeing Trump six months earlier.
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  Speaker 1: Paul Kelly is The Australian's editor at large. You can
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  Speaker 1: read his inimitable take, as well as all the nation's
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  Speaker 1: best news, sport, politics and business right now at The
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  Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au