United States President Donald Trump welcomed Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on a week-long visit to the US, which includes a state dinner at the White House. The two leaders met at the White House where Mr. Morrison was received with a military band and a 19-gun salute. Mr. Morrison is only the second world leader to be given a state dinner by President Trump after France’s Emmanuel Macron. The pair are close politically and both heralded the decade’s long-relationship between their two countries as the Australian Prime Minister arrived at the White House.
“Australians and Americans understand each other like few other people. We have done what true friends do to stick by each other,” Mr. Morrison said. During the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, the two conservative politicians spent time together as well as earlier that month at the D-Day event in Portsmouth, England. This action led some people to speculate about a budding “bromance.” While at the dinner with Mr. Morrison in Osaka, President Donald Trump praised his counterpart and boasted he had predicted his victory during the elections.
“He didn’t surprise me but he surprised a lot of other people. See, I knew him. So I said he’s going to do very well and he did it,” Mr. Trump told Australian and US officials. Mr. Trump has constantly praised Mr. Morrison ever since he became Prime Minister in August 2018 and won a shock re-election in May. On the other hand,Mr. Morrison has praised the United States President as “a strong leader who says what he’s going to do and then goes and does it.” In a recent interview, PM Morrison said he gets on very well with President Trump adding that they have a straight relationship.
The Australian Prime Minister will visit the headquarters of NASA, the US space agency and travel to Chicago to meet tech entrepreneurs during his first visit from 19-27 September. Included in the menu at the state dinner was Jerusalem artichoke ravioli, Dover sole with fennel mousseline and apple tart with calvados ice cream for dessert. The state dinners are rare largely owing to the months of planning that go into them. Actually, they are designed to highlight America’s closest diplomatic relationships with foreign allies.
On Sunday, Mr. Morrison will travel to Wapakoneta, Ohio to tour a “new, Australian owned manufacturing facility” with President Trump, the White House said in a statement. Two days later, he is expected to travel to New York City for the UN General Assembly meetings to deliver an address that will cover the protection of the oceans and preventing terrorist use of the internet, his office said.
The Trump-Morrison discussions are likely to be watched for any mention of Beijing and the US-China Trade war, as well as other security and economic matters. Australia continues to remains economically reliant on China but is openly debating its influence on local society. This is amid concerns about security and freedom of speech.
