Donald Trump has sparked a fresh diplomatic battle – this time with Australia – by branding a refugee deal with the country as “dumb”, days after reportedly holding a heated conversation with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
During a phone conversation on Saturday, Mr Trump reportedly told his Australian counterpart that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day and that “This was the worst call by far.”
The president, who blasted the Australian leader over a refugee deal, abruptly ended Saturday’s call, which was expected to last an hour, after just 25 minutes.
That would be far shorter than the earlier calls with Shinzo Abe of Japan, Angela Merkel of Germany, François Hollande of France or Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.
Australian government officials, who said the Washington Post’saccount of the call was “substantially accurate”, described the conversation as “robust” and admitted it was “shorter than expected”, ABC News reported.
Mr Turnbull was trying to confirm that Mr Trump would honour a deal made with the Obama administration to take in 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention centre.
“This is the worst deal ever,” Mr Trump said, according to the Washington Post. Mr Trump complained he was “going to get killed” politically and accused Australia of seeking to export the “next Boston bombers.”
The president had recently issued an executive order temporarily barring the admissions of refugees. To account for the Australia deal, a special provision in the order allows for exceptions to honour “a preexisting international agreement”.
Mr Trump vented his anger over the deal on Twitter on Wednesday night and called into doubt whether he would honour the agreement. “Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!,” he said.
Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!
Australia is one of America’s staunchest allies. They share intelligence and have fought together in a number of wars, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Turnbull refused to comment on reports of the conversation. The prime minister said conversations with world leaders are conducted “candidly, frankly, privately”, but stressed Australia’s solid relationship with the US was still in place.
“I can assure you the relationship is very strong,” he said.
Mr Turnbull remained confident the resettlement deal of the refugees would continue. Many of the refugees come Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Somalia, countries that are listed in Mr Trump’s travel ban.
“I don’t want these people,” Mr Trump reportedly said, telling Mr Turnbull it was “my intention” to honour the agreement. A senior US official said the phrase was designed to give the president a way to back out of the deal in the future, the newspaper said.
A government official said the president’s dealings with other countries were “naive”.
“He keeps suggesting we will have the best relationship ever with a broad departure of countries, but there is no substance to back it up,” the official told CNN. “When he encounters a policy challenge like with Turnbull, he responds with a tantrum.”
Opposition leader Bill Shorten called on Mr Turnbull to be open about his interaction with Mr Trump, saying The Washington Post version of the call was worrying.
“We shouldn’t be finding out about what’s happening to Australian policy through the news of foreign countries,” Mr Shorten said.
The wrangling with Australia comes days after Mr Trump sparked a diplomatic crisis with Mexico for ordering the construction of a border wall, prompting President Enrique Peña Nieto to cancel a scheduled visit to the White House, Telegraph reported.
Loud Whispers 
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