US President Donald Trump will not meet PM Anthony Albanese, as White House hits out over Palestine call

Anthony Albanese will have to jockey against 100 world leaders over a drinks reception for his first few minutes of Presidential time, after the White House confirmed that no bilateral meeting would take place between Donald Trump and the Prime Minister this week.

The White House hit out at Western leaders, including Mr Albanese, recognising the state of Palestine at the 80th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) underway in New York.

Mr Albanese is attending his first-ever UNGA since becoming Prime Minister four years ago. At the top of his agenda has been changing Australia’s policy on the Middle East to formally recognise Palestine as a state.

But his office had hoped his international trip to New York would provide an opportunity for a meeting with Mr Trump, whom Mr Albanese has still never met.

But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a blow to the Prime Minister’s hopes when she set out the President’s schedule for Tuesday.

“Tomorrow morning, President Trump will deliver a major speech touting the renewal of American strengths around the world, and his historic accomplishments in just 8 months, including the ending of seven global wars and conflicts,” she said.

“The President will also be hosting bilateral meetings with the UN Secretary General and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina, and the European Union.

“The President will also later in the day hold a multilateral meeting with Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the UAE and Jordan.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said Mr Albanese had let the relationship drift.

“Our job in Australia is to stand up for our national interest and with respect to the issues that are growing in number, I am concerned that the relationship is drifting,” she said on Nine.

“It’s really drifting.

“No meeting has taken place, no meeting is happening right now and meanwhile we have our major ally condemning our actions at the UN to recognise Palestine and a terrorist group, Hamas, actually cheering this on.

“How can that be right?”

Earlier, Mr Trump had said he would meet ‘some of the majors’ on the sidelines of UNGA but had also hinted at a possible face-to-face with Mr Albanese during a tirade at John Lyons, the ABC journalist who questioned Mr Trump’s family business activities.

During that exchange, Mr Trump had said that Mr Albanese was coming to see him this week, sparking hopes that Australia’s diplomatic outreach to the White House had finally paid off.

But Mr Albanese’s name was not on the list for the President’s planned meetings.

Just 24 hours earlier, Mr Albanese said that he remained hopeful of securing his first face-to-face sit-down with the President.

“No, we’ll wait and see,” Mr Albanese told Sky.

“But I won’t be pre-empting those issues.

“We, of course, I look forward to meeting with President Trump at some stage.

“We’ve had four constructive discussions. I’ll see him tomorrow night at the function that he’s hosting.”

This means that at most, Mr Albanese’s first meeting with Mr Trump will be reduced to no more than a sip and a handshake over a drink.

Mr Albanese has opted to wait until so-called summit season — comprising UNGA, APEC and ASEAN and the Quad — to try and meet Mr Trump.

But with a UNGA bilat now off the table, and serious questions about whether the Quad will take place because of the deteriorating relationship between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump.

India is due to host the Quad leaders summit this year but no date has been set.

This means that Mr Albanese’s chances to talk about Australia’s interests, such as the America First review into AUKUS and the tariffs imposed on Australian goods and steel, are whittled down to ASEAN and APEC.

This is unless Mr Albanese ditches his strategy and opts for a dedicated trip to Washington outside of his packed international travel schedule.

Ms Leavitt said that Mr Trump would raise the Western leaders’ recognition of Palestine in his speech on Tuesday morning and that the President viewed world leaders as “more talk and not enough action.”

“He feels this does not do anything to release the hostages (in Gaza), does nothing to end this conflict and bring this war to a close,” she said.

“Frankly, he believes this is a reward to Hamas.

“So he believes these decisions are just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies.”