Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will stop in Seattle to visit Amazon’s headquarters, using the opportunity to promote free trade and reinforce the strong economic relationship between Australia and the United States. His visit comes as Australian officials work urgently to secure a first in-person meeting between Albanese and US President Donald Trump.
The White House has confirmed that Trump will travel to the Canadian Rockies on Monday for the G7 summit, which will focus on trade and global security. However, the recent escalation of tensions in the Middle East — including Israel’s surprise attacks on Iran — could shift the summit’s agenda significantly.
The last time Trump attended a G7 in Canada, in 2018, he made headlines by refusing to sign the final communique and publicly criticising then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Hoping to avoid a repeat, Canada’s new PM Mark Carney has scrapped the final statement in favour of “action-oriented” leader declarations, which avoid requiring full consensus.
Albanese seeks to secure key meeting with Trump
For Albanese, now just six weeks into his second term, securing face time with Trump is a top priority. The Trump administration’s review of the AUKUS submarine pact, alongside its push for Australia to significantly boost defence spending, has raised pressure on the Prime Minister to find common ground at the summit in Kananaskis.
Although the two leaders have spoken by phone twice since Trump’s return to office, they have yet to meet in person.
Adding to the challenge, multiple world leaders — including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum — are also vying for a bilateral meeting with Trump. So far, only Japan’s Shigeru Ishiba has publicly confirmed a scheduled one-on-one discussion.
Amazon visit to showcase US-Australia economic ties
To reinforce the strength of US-Australia business links, Albanese will visit Amazon’s Seattle headquarters on Sunday. The tech giant is expected to announce further multi-billion dollar investments in Australian data centre infrastructure.
Albanese will deliver a speech to US business leaders alongside Australia’s Ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, where he will champion “free and fair trade” as vital to shared prosperity.
“This sends a signal to the world — and it’s a powerful symbol of Australia and the United States cooperating to seize and shape a new era of prosperity,” Mr Albanese is expected to say.
“The United States is Australia’s largest foreign investment destination and our biggest two-way investment partner. Our task now is to build on this strength — and expand beyond it.”
Amazon’s growing presence in Australia
Amazon is already building new data centres in Sydney and Melbourne, including a $2 billion cloud system to handle classified military and intelligence data for Australia.
In 2024, Amazon executive Iain Rouse said the company had invested $9.1 billion in Australia since entering the market and was committing an additional $13.2 billion by 2027.
“We’re in this for the long haul,” Rouse said at the time.
Driven by increasing global demand for cloud computing and AI, Amazon and other tech giants are accelerating the rollout of data infrastructure worldwide.
If Albanese and Trump manage to meet at the G7, the agenda will be full, with trade, tech investment, defence, and global stability all in play.
