Keating said last year that Australia risked becoming the “51st state of the United States” under the agreement, which sent the wrong message to China.
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Turnbull, the broker of a previous deal with France which was controversially scrapped, said the deal abandoned Australia’s sovereignty in terms of submarines, and would be “completely dependent on what happens in the United States as to whether we get them now”.
In the same press conference, Trump also said he is confident that Russian leader Vladimir Putin will “keep his word” if an agreement is reached to end Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Trump said going through the “Russia hoax” ordeal gives him confidence that he can trust Putin in talks about the war in Ukraine that the Kremlin launched three years ago.
Early in Trump’s first term as president, the Republican was dogged by a special counsel-led investigation looking into the FBI’s probe of Russian interference in his 2016 campaign for the White House.
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It followed Russia’s effort to disrupt and influence the 2016 election, according to the US intelligence committee and multiple congressional inquiries.
Starmer extended a state visit invitation to Trump on behalf of King Charles, and Trump accepted.
Starmer said the invitation for a second state visit — Trump already received the honour during his first term — was “historic” and “unprecedented.”
Starmer is visiting the White House to try to convince Trump that a lasting peace in Ukraine will endure only if Kyiv and European leaders are at the table as negotiations move forward with Moscow.
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His trip, coming a few days after French President Emmanuel Macron’s own visit, reflects the mounting concern felt by much of Europe that Trump’s aggressive push to find an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine signals his willingness to concede too much to Putin.
“We’re going to do the best we can to make the best deal we can for both sides,” Trump said on Wednesday (Washington time) as he held the first cabinet meeting of his second term. “For Ukraine, we’re going to try very hard to make a good deal so that they can get as much (land) back as possible.”
But the Republican president’s rapprochement with Russia has unsettled America’s historic allies in Europe. They have found themselves on their heels with Trump returning to the White House with a determination to dramatically make over US foreign policy to correspond with his “America First” world view.
Trump’s meeting with Starmer comes a day before a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The two leaders are expected to sign off Friday on a contentious agreement that would give the US access to Ukraine’s critical minerals, which are used in the aerospace, defence and nuclear industries. Zelensky had chafed at signing off on an agreement without specific security guarantees from Washington.
Asked if he still believed Zelensky is a “dictator”, the term he used for the Ukrainian leader last week, Trump said: “Did I say that?”
Trump was noncommittal about any coming American security guarantees. “I’m not going to make security guarantees … very much,” Trump said. “We’re going to have Europe do that.”
with AP
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