ARTICLE AD BOX
Anthony Albanese said he had a “very warm” conversation with American president Donald Trump after becoming the first Australian prime minister to win a second consecutive term in over two decades.
Mr Albanese said he discussed the Aukus military pact and the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs in a congratulatory phone call following his stunning comeback.
Mr Albanese of the Labor Party won against the conservative Liberal-National coalition led by Peter Dutton as Mr Trump’s global tariff war and the fear of centre-right leaders mirroring Trump-style politics shaped the election in his favour.
"I had a warm and positive conversation with President Trump," Mr Albanese said. "We talked about how Aukus and tariffs will continue to engage, we will engage with each other on a face-to-face basis at some time in the future."
Aukus is a nearly £180 bn security cooperation deal involving Australia, the US and the UK aimed at helping Canberra upgrade its naval capabilities by acquiring nuclear submarines
Mr Trump, on his part, lavished praise on Mr Albanese, calling him a “very good” leader who was very friendly with him.
"I don't know anything about the election other than the man that won, he's very good," Mr Trump told reporters at the White House after disembarking from the Marine One helicopter.
"Albanese I'm very friendly with,” he continued. “I can only say that he's been very, very nice to me, very respectful to me."
As counting continued on Monday, Mr Albanese’s Labor led on 85 of the 150 lower house seats. At least one dozen seats were too close to call, with more than three-quarters of the votes tallied.
Mr Dutton, 54, had been leading in polls but ended up losing his parliamentary seat of 24 years in a major setback for the opposition leader.
The election campaign saw Labor strongly criticise Mr Dutton for indicating he would mimic some of Mr Trump’s policies. The ruling party also claimed that the opposition coalition would “Americanise” the health system.
Mr Dutton campaigned on hard-line conservatism as well as his controversial immigration policies and criticism of China, seemingly echoing some of Mr Trump’s rhetoric.
Opposition lawmaker Jason Wood, leading in his electorate in Melbourne's southeast, said his party had thought Mr Trump's election would boost the party's fortunes but such hopes were never realised.
The US last month imposed a 10 per cent levy on imports from Australia, making it one of the countries burdened with the lowest tariff rate. Australia is one of the few major countries that the US enjoys a trade surplus with.
Mr Albanese lashed out at the levy but said he would try and strike a deal with the Trump administration. “We made it very clear that was an act of self-harm by the United States,” Mr Albanese said at the time.
After his election, the prime minister said he had received congratulatory calls from the leaders of Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, France, UK, and India as well.
He announced that he would open his second stint in power with a visit to Indonesia. "My first international visit will be just like last time when my first bilateral was to Indonesia," he said.
English (US) ·