New York : US President Donald Trump met Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and declared they “get along great”, following a testy phone exchange earlier that strained ties between the two countries.
Both leaders met face to face aboard the aircraft carrier Intrepid in Manhattan on Thursday, the New York Times reported.
“We get along great. We have a fantastic relationship, I love Australia, I always have,” Trump told reporters who witnessed a portion of the meeting between the two politicians in a room near the ship’s main dining area.
The two attended a dinner aboard the Intrepid, now a museum docked in the Hudson River, to honour the 75th anniversary of the victory of the US and Australia over Japan in the Battle of the Coral Sea during World War II. Their earlier encounter, an acrimonious first phone call in January, was spoiled by Trump’s hostile reaction to a deal with Australia that his predecessor Barack Obama negotiated in the final weeks of his second term.
In it, the US agreed to take in as many as 1,250 refugees that Australia was holding at offshore detention centres.
During that call, Trump told Turnbull that the agreement would hurt his new administration politically, officials said at the time.–IANS
