Donald Trump to leave G7 before one-on-one with Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese’s one-on-one meeting with Donald Trump has been abandoned, after the American president departed the three-day G7 summit early citing developments in the Middle East.

The planned talks were highly anticipated, particularly after the Trump administration revealed it was reviewing the $368 billion AUKUS submarine deal last week.

News of Mr Trump’s unexpected departure broke just minutes after the prime minister told a media conference in Calgary that he “looked forward to the meeting and looked forward to it taking place”.

The face-to-face meeting — which would have been the first between the two leaders — was scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the summit on Wednesday morning.

But in a statement posted to social media on Tuesday, US Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Mr Trump would instead be returning to Washington after dinner.

“President Trump had a great day at the G7, even signing a major trade deal with the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Keir Starmer,” the statement read.

“Much was accomplished, but because of what’s happening in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with the Heads of State.”

The president had planned to hold other meetings with world leaders, including Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that were also scrapped.

Mr Albanese had previously said he intended to raise the Trump administration’s tariffs on Australian exports and the AUKUS partnership during the high-stakes talks.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the prime minister said Mr Trump’s decision to leave early was understandable “given what is occurring in the Middle East”.

“As the prime minister said a short time ago, we are very concerned about the events in the Middle East and continue to urge all parties to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy,” they said.

Back in Australia, Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles also downplayed the significance of the president’s cancellation.

“We shouldn’t be reading more into it than that, this is essentially the American president needing to deal with what is obviously playing out in the world today,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“We have seen our prime minister and the president have a number of phone calls to date, they are building a rapport, we have been able to deal with our issues with the United States, [and] I’m sure that in the not to distance future they will meet face-to-face.”

Albanese set expectations for talks

Mr Albanese appeared unaware of any changes to the president’s plans as he spoke to reporters in Calgary, suggesting it would be unreasonable to expect that the meeting would result in the complete removal of the tariffs.

“When I first raised with President Trump the issue of tariffs, of course, he said he would give it great consideration,” he told reporters.

“I would expect that that will continue and that we’ll continue to put forward our case as we have in all of the discussions that I’ve had with President Trump.”

The prime minister said he had prepared extensively for his talks with Mr Trump, including by conferring with United States Ambassador Kevin Rudd and golfing great Greg Norman, who is friends with the president.

“I take that responsibility seriously and I look forward to tomorrow’s meeting,” he said.

Mr Albanese was also asked whether the president had responded to his invitation to visit Australia, to which he said Mr Trump would “always be a welcome guest”.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley echoed the government’s comments that the cancellation was understandable, but added that the prime minister should have “been more proactive in seeking to strengthen” Australia’s most important relationship.

“This was an important opportunity for the prime minister to seek assurances on AUKUS and protect Australia from tariffs,” she said in a statement.

“Given global volatility and the growing list of issues in our relationship with the United States, this underscores that the Albanese government should not have merely relied on meeting with the president on the sidelines of international summits.”

The prime minister will go ahead with other planned meetings on Wednesday, including with European leaders and Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.