Australian minister calls Trump meeting miss a 'good thing' as Albanese misses Trump at UN

A senior Labor minister described Anthony Albanese's failure to secure a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York as a political win for Australia, arguing the country is better off not being drawn into tough trade talks this week. Assistant Foreign Minister Matt Thistlethwaite told Sky News on Tuesday that not landing a Trump meeting should be seen as a 'good thing' because it keeps Australia out of the president's focus on trade talks.

'I think we should see this as a good thing,' Thistlethwaite said. 'It means that the president, who's been meeting with world leaders to try and reach agreements on trade policy, he's trying to do deals with other nations around tariffs and trade policy. He doesn't need to do that with Australia. We've got an agreement and that's been reaffirmed by the phone call that occurred recently between the Prime Minister and the president, locking in that 10 per cent tariff, which is the lowest rate that any nation has secured.'

Thistlethwaite suggested the absence of a meeting showed that the relationship between the two countries remained strong. 'What we've got here is Australia getting a good deal out of the United States, when it comes to trade policy, so there's no need for any further follow up meeting,' he added. The White House confirmed overnight that Albanese was not one of the extensive world leaders Trump was due to meet this week on the side lines of the UN summit. Instead, Trump will hold talks with the UN Secretary-General and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union, before joining a major multilateral session with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Türkiye, Pakistan, Egypt, the UAE, and Jordan.

The prime minister held seven meetings with other world leaders, including a 'wonderful' 40-minute chat with French President Emmanuel Macron. 'Thank you for your leadership driving the Two-State Solution Conference today, and in the Coalition of the Willing in support of Ukraine,' Albanese captioned a picture of the two leaders shaking hands. He also reportedly met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, South African Prime Minister Cyril Ramaphosa, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, European Council President Antonio Costa, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, and Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

The week has also seen Australia take a historically symbolic step by recognizing Palestinian statehood, a move welcomed by Albanese as part of a broader effort to address regional violence and promote regional stability. 'We must break this cycle of violence and build something better,' Albanese told the General Assembly. He added: 'Working together, we can build a future where instead of children in Gaza dying in pain, living in fear, or being taught to hate, they can go to school and build a life in larger freedom. That future depends on recognition being followed by reconstruction and reform. A credible, co-operative peace plan supporting recovery in Gaza and security for Israel, establishing governance and excluding Hamas on the day after, and every day after that. This is the next step we must take, and we must take it together.'