Extract from ABC News
Analysis
Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump were all smiles during their meeting at the White House. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump agreed to jointly fund critical minerals projects.
Crucially, Trump answered the submarine-sized elephant in the room. Did he support AUKUS? The answer was yes.
Trump, who has never publicly spoken about AUKUS, gave his presidential seal of approval to the $368 billion agreement for Australia to acquire eight nuclear-powered submarines from the US and UK.
While Navy Secretary John Phelan suggested there were some "ambiguities" in the agreement that needed to be resolved, Trump put it back on him: "You're going to get that taken care of right?"
The agreement was "full steam ahead", said Trump, even agreeing that the lethal boats would act as a deterrent against Beijing as China's military continued to expand across the region.
Not everyone left unscathed
The unpredictable president has used these bilateral meetings to ambush and humiliate friends and allies.
With Albanese, Trump was almost effusive in his praise ("you're very popular!", "you've done a fantastic job as prime minister!") and assiduously avoided contentious issues in the relationship.
Trump brushed off questions about defence spending even though his Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth — seated at the table — had previously demanded, publicly, that Australia lift its game.
The president lavished praise on Anthony Albanese during the meeting. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
On tariffs, your correspondent asked Trump why Australia was still subject to the punitive measure given we buy more from America than America buys from us.
The president confirmed, again, he is not for turning but appeared to offer some soothing words to his counterpart: "Australia pays at the moment the lowest tariffs." In other words, you will just have to cop it but rest assured, you got the best deal on the table.
The free-wheeling meeting took a few twists and turns; Trump told a camera operator off for hitting a "400-year-old mirror", called an Australian journalist "nasty" and told another she did not know what she was talking about.
By far the most awkward moment came when Trump was asked a question about Albanese's hand-picked ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd.
Donald Trump was asked about Kevin Rudd's now-deleted social media posts on Monday.
In now deleted tweets, the ambassador described Trump as "a traitor" and "the most destructive president in history".
When asked for his response, Trump — who did not realise Rudd was seated opposite him at the cabinet table — claimed, "I don't know anything about him."
When Albanese gestured towards Rudd, Trump looked at him and said: "I don't like you either, and I probably never will."
The room erupted in laughter — perhaps to lighten the mood — with about a year to go until he finishes his post, this is unlikely to be a career-ending exchange for Rudd.
A camera operator later overheard the ambassador apologising to Trump, and the Australian government's PR machine wasted no time informing reporters the president offered up "all is forgiven" — although the moment was not captured.
The irony is, Rudd's work behind the scenes in Washington arguably laid the groundwork for what was a hugely successful first bilateral meeting.
Albanese himself escaped unscathed, even joking at one point that he would use Trump's ringing endorsement of him in his campaign for re-election in 2028.
Of course, he has no intention of doing that; the canny prime minister knows it would be akin to political suicide in Australia.
But Trump does not know that.
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