Federal election 2025: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on trusting Trump, AUKUS and his vision for Australia

Anthony Albanese has revealed he trusts Donald Trump but has also warned the US President his pro-fossil fuels policies and foreign aid cuts will affect American influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

The US President has dominated the first two weeks of the election campaign and despite the global uncertainty over broader impacts from his decisions, when asked if he trusted Mr Trump, Mr Albanese was emphatic.

“Yes … in the second discussion I had (with him), we agreed on the wording we would both use about AUKUS and about the tariffs and trade issues,” he said in a wide-ranging interview in an upcoming episode of the Latika Takes podcast for The Nightly.

“And when he was asked, he certainly agreed with what we had come to an agreement on.”

When it was pointed out Mr Trump did not grant Australia any special treatment when it came to steel tariffs, Mr Albanese said the country was also not singled out.

“That’s right and he didn’t guarantee that, he said he would give strong consideration but he didn’t give anyone an exemption, so Australia was not singled out,” he said.

“He did what he said he would do.”

Mr Albanese also said it was important to remind the US President, who campaigned to “drill, baby, drill” that climate change remained the “entry fee” to the Indo-Pacific in an era of strategic competition.

“I am concerned as well about climate change policy,” he said.

“Taking climate change seriously is an entry fee to influence in the Indo Pacific.”

He also argued that Elon Musk’s cuts to foreign aid could harm US interests as it tried to maintain its economic dominance over its Chinese rival.

“I am concerned about the standing in the region, that cuts to foreign aid by the United States will have,” he said in an interview between campaign stops in Cairns and Darwin this week.

The new comments on Mr Trump constitute Mr Albanese’s strongest criticisms of the US President, who this week issued an Executive Order to greenlight new coal mining.

Asked if Australia was hoping to ride out the Trump Administration’s behaviour, Mr Albanese pointed to the President’s own reversal of tariffs on countries except for China and that it had happened in just one week.

“What a remarkable turnaround,” he said.

Overnight, Mr Trump appeared to extend an olive branch over his tariffs, saying that countries were welcome to start negotiations but said they must have something to add if they wished to have tariffs removed.

Mr Albanese said Australia would continue to assert its rights under the free trade agreement, despite the US President effectively tearing it up by imposing a 10 per cent tariff on all Australian imports as well as the 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium.

“Our free trade agreement is very clear, it doesn’t allow for tariffs between our two nations,” he said.

“Australia has been compliant with that, the United States has not.”

Asked if the free-trade agreement still existed, Mr Albanese said “it does exist and Australia will continue to assert our rights under that agreement with the US Administration.

“That’s the one of the things that we are doing.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has criticised Mr Albanese for not picking up the phone and calling the President directly or travelling to Washington to meet the deal-loving President in person.

Mr Albanese said those methods had not worked for others and that it was business, not foreign leaders who had an impact.

“Now those people who have had the direct discussions with President Trump, none of that succeeded in the lead up to the announcement — very clearly.

“It’s the market response, the market has responded and the market has expressed its concern about the impact that the imposition of these tariffs will have.

“We are in very uncertain times and we’ve seen the Trump administration change its policy multiple times in recent weeks.

“What is required is a considered response to that and a confident response to that.”

Mr Albanese said the trade war showed that the rules-based order was under threat.

“It certainly is under challenge, there’s no question about that,”he said.

“And some of the certainties that we took for granted are not there any more.”

With some raising concerns about what the Trump Administration also means for AUKUS, Mr Albanese was explicit in his belief it was safeguarded.

“I’m very confident from the discussions that I’ve had first-hand with members of Congress and members of the US Senate … including with President Trump that there is strong support for AUKUS,” he said.

One of Mr Trump’s many Executive Orders issued this week was aimed at spurring US shipbuilding. As part of that directive, the so-called and unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, overseen by tech billionaire Elon Musk, was ordered to review within 90 days the Navy’s maritime procurement programs and recommend ways to speed up these processes.

Mr Albanese told reporters on Friday in a campaign stop in Darwin, where the same sort of submarine that Australia is poised to buy from the United States recently docked, that he saw no reason to doubt the viability of AUKUS.

“We support the existing arrangements that we have with the United States,” he said.