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Will the third time be a charm for Anthony Albanese?
The prime minister will make his third trip to North America in five months in October, with the White House confirming he is meeting with Donald Trump on 20 October in Washington DC.
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, there have been four phone calls between the US president and Anthony Albanese.
But while Trump has declared Albanese is someone he is “friendly with”, the pair has never actually met in person.
At the Kananaskis G7 in Canada, Trump rushed back to the White House early to deal with the conflict in the Middle East, so a proposed meeting there was cancelled.
Then last week, Trump said Albanese was coming over to see him “very soon”, which some saw as a sign the prime minister might get an audience with the president in New York during the United Nations General Assembly this week.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used his UN General Assembly speech on Tuesday to push Palestinian statehood. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
Albanese criticised over lack of meeting
Some political insiders say meeting Trump is laden with risk for foreign leaders, and Australia is getting a reasonably good deal compared to other nations anyway when it comes to trade tariffs, so being in the room is not essential, and may be detrimental.
Australia still sees the US as its closest security ally, but the optics suggested Australia was not a priority for Trump.
The supposed snub also led to scrutiny around the role Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, has played in Washington.
On Wednesday, before the meeting was confirmed, Rudd told SBS News: “I’m doing my job, and I’ll continue to do my job.”
With confirmation of a meeting, Rudd will consider this job done.
Albanese and Trump are expected to come face-to-face for the first time on Wednesday night at a reception for more than 100 world leaders on Madison Avenue to coincide with the UN General Assembly.
That informal engagement is not considered an official meeting, and does not involve in-depth diplomatic talks.
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