Australia these days receives invitations to big-league international conferences. And so Anthony Albanese will be off soon to the G7 meeting in Alberta, Canada, on June 15-17.

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For the Prime Minister, what's most important about this trip is not so much the conference itself, but his expected first meeting with US President Donald Trump, either on the sidelines of the G7 or in a visit to Washington while he's in North America.

Nothing is locked in. But it's impossible to think such a meeting won't take place. The Australian PM certainly needs to have his first face-to-face talks with the US President sooner rather than later.

During the election, there was much argument over whether Albanese or Peter Dutton would be better at dealing with the difficult and unpredictable Trump, in particular, in trying to extract some concessions on his tariffs

Australia has been hit by Trump's 25 per cent tariff on aluminium and steel, as well as by his general 10 per cent tariff.

The Trump tariff regime has been a chaotic story of decisions, pauses and changes of mind. In the latest drama, the United States Court of International Trade on Wednesday blocked Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs (as far as Australia goes, this relates to the 10 per cent general tariff but not that on aluminium and steel). The court found the President had exceeded his powers. The administration immediately appealed the decision.

We can't know how this imbroglio will play out. But assuming Australia will still be confronting some tariffs, Albanese's pitch for special treatment will be made around what we can do for the Americans with our large deposits of critical minerals and rare earths. These are vital for the production of a huge range of items, including for defence purposes.

Australia's ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, speaking at a conference in Detroit this week, pointed out that the two countries already had a draft accord on these minerals.

"What we need to work out [...] is how do we collaborate both on the mining, the extraction, the transportation and the processing and the stockpiling to make our economies resilient, including what you'll need for future battery manufacture," Rudd said.

When Albanese does get together........

© Canberra Times