Trump told an Australian journalist that he was “hurting Australia” after he asked a question about the president’s business dealings, saying he would report the journalist to the Australian prime minister.
“Is it appropriate, President Trump, that a president in office should be engaged in so much business activity?” journalist John Lyons from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation asked Trump yesterday on the White House lawn.
“I’m really not. My kids are running the business,” Trump responded, before asking Lyons where he was from.
“You are hurting Australia very much right now, and they want to get along with me,” Trump then said. “Your leader is coming over to see me very soon, I’m going to tell him about you. You set a very bad tone.”
Although a bilateral meeting between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has yet to be scheduled, the two could meet next week while they are both in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
Their call came the same day as talks in New Delhi between Indian trade officials and a U.S. delegation led by Brendan Lynch, assistant U.S. trade representative for South and Central Asia. The Indian commerce ministry said the talks between India and the U.S., its largest export market, were “positive” and “forward looking.”
“It was decided to intensify efforts to achieve early conclusion of a mutually beneficial Trade Agreement,” it said in a statement yesterday, without giving details.