Trump’s press secretary announces early departure ‘because of what’s going on in the Middle East’
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Donald Trump is leavingthe G7 summit in Canadaa day early, skipping meetings with leaders including Anthony Albanese as he returns to Washington amid escalating war in the Middle East.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the president would return to the US after an official dinner with theG7leaders on Monday night, local time.
“President Trump had a great day at the G7, even signing a major trade deal with the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Keir Starmer,” she wrote on social media.
“Much was accomplished, but because of what’s going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with heads of state.”
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The move came after he declined to join a joint statement from the G7 leaders calling for both sides in the conflict to de-escalate and warned people in Iran’s capital, Tehran, to evacuate.
During an official photo for leaders of the G7 countries, Trump said: “You probably see what I see, and I have to be back as soon as I can.”
US media reports suggested he requested the National Security Council be prepared in the White House situation room for his return.
Trump has called publicly for a diplomatic resolution to the bombings between Israel and Iran and has threatened US military action if the conflict continues to grow.
Trump’s departure is a blow for Albanese, who had expected to hold his first face-to-face talks with the president, including covering trade issues and the US review of the Aukus nuclear submarines agreement.
After the news broke, a government spokeswoman said the departure was “understandable” given the situation 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.”
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said the decision showed Albanese should have done more to secure an early meeting with Trump, rather than waiting for an international summit.
“Given the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, this decision is understandable but to the detriment of Australia,” she said in a statement.
“The prime minister should have been more proactive in seeking to strengthen this relationship – Australia’s most important – and we encourage him to change his approach to advance our national interest.”
Albanese is still expected to meet leaders including the UK’s Keir Starmer and the new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, at the Kananaskis summit site, before returning to Australia on Tuesday night.
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The United Nations general assembly in September could provide the next opportunity for a meeting between Albanese and Trump. Albanese is expected to go to New York and could add a visit to the White House to the trip if an invitation is forthcoming
By thenthe 30-day Pentagon Aukus review, which is being led by the under secretary of defence for policy, Elbridge Colby, will be complete.
The Australian delegation had been buoyed by Trump’s comments about Aukus after his own meeting with Starmer earlier on Monday, when the president nodded in agreement that sharing of nuclear technology between the three countries represented an “important deal”.
“We’re very long-time partners and allies and friends, and we’ve become friends in a short period of time,” he said of the British PM.
News of his early departure came minutes after Albanese said he expected a positive meeting with Trump. The pair have previously spoken by phone, including about the Aukus deal.
“There are great advantages that we have,” he said. “The sum of one plus one plus one sometimes equals more than three.”
Trump had been due to hold bilateral talks with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum before leaving Canada.
He had criticised the move to remove Russia from the G8 group in 2014 and even suggested China should be invited to join the forum of the world’s biggest economies.
It is not the first time Trump has overshadowed a summit hosted in Canada. In 2018 he left a previous G7 meeting in disarray after boycotting a previously agreed leaders’ communique, deriding then prime minister Justin Trudeau as “dishonest and weak”.
