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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is pushing for a deal with US President Donald Trump on new technological frontiers as the US fights a tech and trade war with China.
Months after the Albanese government rejected a Chinese offer to incorporate artificial intelligence in the Australia-China free trade agreement, US ambassador Kevin Rudd has revealed Australia is racing towards making a pact with the US on advanced technologies.
Australia’s ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd leaves after a meeting between Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington.Credit: AAP
Rudd talked up the looming deal in a speech in Canberra on Monday night, fresh from his work on the $13 billion critical minerals deal signed at the Trump-Albanese talks in Washington last week.
Chinese state media portrayed the agreement on critical minerals, ingredients crucial to modern defence and green energy sectors, as a demonstration of Canberra’s fealty to Washington. The deal took on global significance after Australian and US leaders described it as a hedge against China’s chokehold on the supply of the resources, which it has threatened to withhold from the rest of the world.
In a similar vein, the US and China have been antagonists in what analysts have described as a technology “Cold War” in fields such as artificial intelligence, with Chinese firms emerging as threats to US tech dominance in a sector that will shape economic and military fortunes.
“The next agreement that we are working on with the Trump administration is how we land … a critical technology, artificial intelligence and quantum technology agreement,” Rudd said at an event in parliament hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia.
Donald Trump speaks to Australian ambassador Kevin Rudd during the president’s media address with Anthony Albanese this month.Credit: AP
“The assessment in the United States is that in quantum alone Australia is regarded as one of the top five countries in the world and [we’re] one of the leading countries in artificial intelligence.”
Rudd said the rapidly deepening alliance with the US was based on four pillars: defence and intelligence underpinned by AUKUS, critical minerals, Australian direct investment driven by one of the biggest pension pools in the world, and new technology.
Albanese has been trying to balance Australia’s tightening US security relationship with his move to stabilise ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping after China slapped trade strikes on Australia in 2020.
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Before Albanese travelled to China in June, China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, made an offer to add artificial intelligence to the existing free trade deal between the two nations.
Albanese had a warm reception in Beijing but brushed off the Chinese request for technology co-operation. “We will determine our policy,” Albanese said at the time. “My priority is jobs.”
While Labor’s tone towards China has softened, it has powered ahead with initiatives such as AUKUS, which Trump said last week was designed to deter Chinese expansionism.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley delivered a speech at the Australia China Business Council on Wednesday, but did not mention a recent dangerous military encounter between Australia and China in the South China Sea.
“The Coalition acknowledges that we have differences. We are pragmatic. We know we live in a world of sovereign nations exercising their self-determination to advance their interests,” she said, promising to speak candidly on China.
“We will surely overcome these challenges if we keep our economies open to one another.
“What we ask of the Chinese government is that it is willing to hear the voices of its neighbours when they point out opportunities for China to use its power to support regional peace and prosperity in new and different ways.”
Trump is due to meet Xi at a summit on Thursday in South Korea on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum. Stock markets jumped across the world on Monday after the US said negotiators were closer to a deal to lower US tariffs and end Chinese curbs on rare earths exports.
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Rudd brushed off a series of questions from journalists in Canberra about his awkward moment with Trump in the White House last week. Trump claimed he did not know Rudd was sitting across the table from him and probed Rudd’s past criticisms of him. Rudd reportedly apologised to Trump after the meeting and Trump accepted it. Days later, Trump muddied the waters further by saying he never forgot when someone attacked him.
“My name is Kevin. I’m from America, and I’m here to help,” Rudd said on Tuesday when asked about the issue, riffing on “I’m from Queensland, and I’m here to help”, a phrase he used many times before becoming prime minister.
Rudd added on Monday: “The prime minister had an excellent meeting with the president”.
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