Albanese treads carefully with Trump as tariff and trade talks left off the APEC summit menu

Anthony Albanese has declined to back Donald Trump‘s declaration that tariffs are good for alliances, hours after dining with the US President in South Korea who again heaped praise on the Australian leader.

“We had a great meeting a week ago,” the US president said on Wednesday night at the APEC summit while seated next to Mr Albanese, referring to their recent White House meeting.

“You’ve done a fantastic job … we’re working together on rare earths, but we’re working on a lot of things together, and it’s all working out very well.”

During visits to Asian nations this week, President Trump has promoted his America First trade agenda which has caused disruptions in the global economy and hurt some economic partners.

Speaking on board the USS George Washington aircraft carrier on Tuesday, the President boasted his administration’s tariffs “have been so good” while claiming they’ve been making “trillions and trillions of dollars”.

Standing alongside Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, he also credited tariffs for helping to “stop a lot of wars”, citing tensions earlier this year between India and Pakistan.

Attending the APEC summit in Gyeongju, South Korea on Thursday, Mr Albanese would not be drawn on the President’s trade comments when asked if he thought US tariffs had strengthened its alliance with Australia.

“I am not going to give a running commentary on the comments that President Trump or anyone else, for that matter. What I do is state Australia’s position and Australia’s position is that we support free and fair trade,” Mr Albanese said.

“We believe that the more open trade occurs the better it is for the global economy, the better it is for Australia, and we consistently put that position.”

While in South Korea the US President also announced that he had given approval for the Asian nation to build its own conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines at a US shipyard.

On social media the US President said he’d granted access to the sensitive technology so South Korea does not have to rely on “old fashioned, and far less nimble, diesel-powered Submarines that they have now”.

Speaking from the APEC summit in South Korea, Mr Albanese has rejected suggestions Seoul is gaining a higher level of access to secret US technology than Australia which is an AUKUS partner.

“No. In a word. To put it clearly - these bilateral arrangements are a matter for the United States and Korea,” Mr Albanese told reporters.

“The arrangements Australia has entered into with United States and United Kingdom are in our national interest. They will provide for Australia to have access to that technology, and that is a very positive thing.”

Pressed on US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth saying he was “highly doubtful the US would be able to sustain AUKUS while also helping the South Koreans get nuclear”, Mr Albanese insisted he was not concerned.

“I think President Trump’s comments couldn’t have been clearer and they were very clear last week in the White House,” he said.

Defence experts have predicted South Korea could now overtake Australia in building its own nuclear-powered submarines, with construction on the SSN-AUKUS fleet not scheduled to begin in Adelaide until the end of this decade.

“If we were already worried about the US’s industrial base yesterday, then today’s announcement surely throws a spanner in the works,” says Doctor Elizabeth Buchanan, a US-Australia alliance fellow at Washington’s Centre for the National Interest.

“This is a potential threat to Australian plans if US resources at home are diverted to a different customer - one that also comes with a much healthier defence budget”.

“This is going to change the tempo of and interest in the extant non proliferation regime that our soc called ‘liberal rules based order’ has trumpeted. You can be sure Japan is angry - if not striking a back room deal”.

Doctor Malcolm Davis from Australian Strategic Policy Institute agrees that neighbouring Japan has a stronger case for acquiring nuclear-powered submarines given China’s growing undersea capability and emerging threats from North Korea and possibly Russia.

Anthony Albanese is due to return to Australia on the weekend but is yet to confirm whether he’ll travel to Brazil next month to attend the 30th UN climate conference in the city of Belem.