The PM said it was “good to chat” with Trump during an informal meeting at the US welcome reception for world leaders attending United Nations General Assembly.
Albanese posted a smiling selfie of the pair to his Instagram shortly after the meeting.
The photo ends months of speculation over when the PM would finally score an in-person meeting with the US president.
Albanese earlier attended an informal reception Trump hosted in Manhattan, where much of the world’s leaders are meeting for the United Nations General Assembly.
The pair had a short and polite discussion about the upcoming talks, but no greater detail was shared, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
This morning 9News confirmed, after much conjecture, that the two leaders will have their first official sit-down in Washington DC on October 20.
Despite having shared four phone calls mutually described as amicable, the pair were yet to meet face-to-face until today.
The lack of face-time with the US president has been something Albanese’s political opponents have seized on, particularly in the face of a Pentagon review of the AUKUS pact, as well as ongoing tariffs on Australian exports to the US.
AUKUS is likely to be high on Albanese’s agenda for the meeting in October after members of Trump’s administration expressed scepticism over the deal’s value.
Australia has already begun delivering payments for nuclear-powered submarines from the US, but there have been calls in Washington for the delivery of the subs to be made conditional on Australia’s support in a hypothetical US war with China.
The federal government is also likely to seek an exemption to Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
Besides those, Australia has not been singled out for any special tariff imposition, but it is unlikely Trump will rescind them entirely.
