MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) 鈥 Australia鈥檚 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had no reason not to trust U.S. President Donald Trump or Chinese President Xi Jinping while debating his rival on Wednesday ahead of the May 3 election.
Albanese and opposition leader faced off in a televised debate when Australian Broadcasting Corp. moderator, David Speers, asked both if they trusted the presidents of the United States and China, Australia鈥檚 most important security and trading partners, after they defied bilateral treaties negatively affecting Australian exports.
鈥淵eah, I have no reason not to鈥 trust Trump, Albanese said. 鈥淚鈥檝e had a couple of discussions with him.鈥
Albanese, whose center-left Labor Party government came to power in 2022, said the 10% tariffs the Trump administration had placed on Australian imports were as low as any country had been burdened with. 鈥淲e made it very clear that was an act of self-harm by the United States,鈥 he said.
Dutton, of the conservative Liberal Party, said he didn鈥檛 know either.
Dutton described Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office in February as 鈥渄isgraceful鈥 and 鈥渁ppalling.鈥
鈥淲e trust the United States and I don鈥檛 know the president. I鈥檝e not met him,鈥 Dutton said.
Beijing imposed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers against Australian exporters and barred minister-to-minister communications in 2020 after Dutton and other conservative Australian government ministers demanded an independent inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic.
The that had cost Australian exporters up to 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year have been lifted since Albanese鈥檚 government was elected.
Dutton said he believed 鈥渧ery strongly鈥 in Australia鈥檚 relationship with China, its biggest export market.
鈥淚 want to see the relationship grow and I want to see trust in the relationship. But we have to stand up for our sovereignty, we have to have a respectful relationship,鈥 he said.
The two leaders will come together for a third and final leaders鈥 debate hosted by Nine Network television on April 22 before the election.
