Trump blasts ‘dumb deal’ with ally Australia after testy call

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump blasted a potential refugee resettlement deal with Australia in a late-night tweet, throwing it into doubt.

“Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!,” Mr Trump tweeted. The resettlement plan involves sending more than 1,000 people who had originally sought asylum in Australia onto the US.

The message came after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull defended his relationship with Australia’s biggest ally following a Washington Post report that Mr Trump berated him over the deal. Mr Trump “abruptly ended” a phone call with Mr Turnbull on Jan 28 after 25 minutes even though they had been scheduled to speak for an hour, according to the newspaper. It cited unidentified US officials who were briefed about the conversation.

During the call, Mr Trump labelled the resettlement plan “the worst deal ever”, the paper reported. The president told Mr Turnbull he had spoken to four other global leaders that day, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, and “this was the worst call by far”. it said.

“I can assure you the relationship is very strong,” Mr Turnbull told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday when asked about the Washington Post article, while adding “I always stand up for Australia in every forum, public or private”. He declined to comment specifically on the contents of the report.

“It’s better that these things, these conversations, are conducted candidly, frankly, privately,” he said. “If you see reports of them, I’m not going to add to them.” White House spokesman Sean Spicer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

BLASTING ALLIES

Since taking office nearly two weeks ago, Mr Trump and his senior officials have lashed out at several leaders, criticising Japan, Germany and China for their trade and currency policies and signalling a more disruptive approach to America’s relationships, even if a country is a long-term ally.

Late Wednesday, a Mexico presidential spokesman denied Mr Trump told President Enrique Pena Nieto over the phone he might send US troops into Mexico, and said there was no threatening tone on the call. Earlier the Associated Press cited an excerpt of a transcript in reporting that Mr Trump told Pena Nieto he could dispatch US soldiers to deal with “bad hombres” unless Mexico’s military could better control them.

Australia has looked to the US since World War II, when the countries joined forces to fight the Japanese military. Former President Barack Obama heralded Australia as a vital link in his pivot to Asia, a policy that was seen as a counterpoint to China’s rising influence. In 2011, Mr Obama secured a deal to base as many as 2,500 Marines in the northern Australian port of Darwin.

ASYLUM DEAL

Australia is also a partner in the so-called Five Eyes arrangement – an intelligence alliance that takes in the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand. The Pine Gap facility in central Australia hosts a joint US-Australia defence facility used in global surveillance operations.

“A lot of Australians will find this report deeply unsettling,” said Mr John Blaxland, a senior fellow at the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre in Canberra. “Australia has invested in this relationship and has been a faithful partner, especially since the declaration of the global war on terror. Trump needs Australia to support its interests in the Asia-Pacific.”

Australian leaders have received mixed signals over whether Mr Trump, who has clamped down on immigration from more than seven Muslim countries, would honour a deal reached with Mr Obama that would see asylum seekers who tried to reach Australia resettled in the US.

Mr Trump had assured him that the resettlement deal would proceed, Mr Turnbull said on Thursday. The day before, Mr Michael Anton, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said the president was still evaluating it.

More than 1,000 asylum seekers who tried to reach Australia by boat are being detained on Manus Island and Nauru, under an Australian policy aimed at deterring people smuggling. Human rights groups have condemned the policy, and the government is seeking to resettle the people in other countries. BLOOMBERG