EDITORIAL: Trump game cancelled as Albo reminded that on the world stage, we are on the B-Team

What a let down. Or was it a shambles? Or a humiliation?

One thing that it wasn’t was a surprise that the much-hyped meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Donald Trump was called off.

Mr Albanese was left like a nervous groom, all dressed up, vows at the ready, suddenly left on his own after the bride decides that she has urgent business elsewhere and isn’t turning up.

The meeting, due to take place on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada on Wednesday morning Australian time, was to have been the first time Mr Albanese met Mr Trump face-to-face.

But as the crisis in the Middle East escalated, the White House announced this morning that Mr Trump would be leaving Canada early after dinner with the Heads of State.

The Group of Seven is an informal grouping of the world’s advanced economies — the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, along with the European Union and other invited nations, including Australia.

The G7 leaders traditionally gather for a group photo. Mr Albanese wasn’t invited to the main group photo because Australia isn’t a core nation.

And while Mr Trump was to attend a dinner with the A team in Kananaskis, other invited leaders like Mr Albanese were to gather in Calgary, an hour-and-a-half drive away.

Mr Albanese was due to travel on Wednesday to meet Mr Trump and other leaders. It was to be a moment for the Prime Minister to shine, to take the Trump relationship beyond their three telephone conversations.

Their meeting’s cancellation came just minutes after the Prime Minister told reporters he was looking forward to it.

The Albanese team had explained that the Prime Minister would push back on a US request to increase defence spending by emphasising the Australian bases used by American submarines, warships and marines.

And Mr Albanese intended to steer the conversation to US tariffs and its threat to the AUKUS nuclear-submarine pact through a snap review.

But then all hell broke loose.

News broke that the US had repositioned warships and military aircraft in the Middle East, Mr Trump was headed to the US Situation Room and he warned residents of Tehran to evacuate “immediately.”

The Albanese team’s take on events also became clear via a spokesperson: “We are very concerned about the events in the Middle East and continue to urge all parties to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy.”

Dialogue and diplomacy. If it was ever needed, the unfolding events have hammered home that on the world stage we really do not cut it.

But not to worry. Before the game was called off Mr Albanese declared he had taken advice on how to play it. Including from our ambassador Kevin Rudd — the same bloke who famously had previously declared that Mr Trump was the “most destructive president in history”. And from a golfer.

Yep, Greg Norman.

So relax everybody. The PM’s got this. Or not.