![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768972148_849_369958dc66697d0627416b0b8924e301553f0262.png\")
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Updated April 17, 2026 \u2014 8:54am,first published 4:37am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Washington: US President Donald Trump has renewed his accusations that Australia has not done enough to help him in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, while ignoring Canberra\u2019s recently announced hike in defence expenditure.<\/p>\n Asked about the announcement \u2013 which was partly to assuage criticism from Washington about Australia\u2019s level of military spending \u2013 Trump initially said \u201cwe\u2019re gonna see what happens\u201d and then spoke about the US success in Iran.<\/p>\n Asked again, he launched into a condemnation of Australia for not helping with the war \u2013 specifically with reopening the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not happy with Australia because they were not there when we asked them to be there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAustralia is another one. They were not there having to do with Hormuz. So I\u2019m not happy, I\u2019m not happy with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump made the comments while taking questions as he left the White House on Thursday (Friday morning AEST). He did not respond to further shouted questions about whether he was still on good terms with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.<\/p>\n Speaking at a press conference at the Geelong oil refinery on Friday morning, the prime minister repeatedly ducked questions about what Trump had asked Australia to do, saying it was a question for the US president.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve engaged with the US administration constructively and we will continue to do so.,\u201d Albanese said.<\/p>\n \u201cI refer to my previous answers day after day after day when I\u2019ve been asked, they\u2019re exactly the same. There\u2019s been no new requests at all, and indeed, President Trump has himself said that he has got this and he has made that position clear. There\u2019s been no change.\u201d<\/p>\n Albanese and his deputy, Defence Minister Richard Marles, confirmed that Australia would take part in the 40-nation talks later today helmed by the UK and France, exploring ways an international mission could restore freedom of movement in the Strait.<\/p>\n Earlier, Marles told ABC\u2019s Radio National that the US had made no \u201cspecific request\u201d for Australia\u2019s assistance with reopening the strait, but did say Australia spoke with the Trump administration daily.<\/p>\n Treasurer Jim Chalmers, speaking to reporters in Washington in the hour after Trump made the remarks, said they were consistent with sentiments the president had expressed in the past.<\/p>\n Chalmers, too, said he was not aware of a formal request from the US for Australia to assist in reopening the Strait of Hormuz as Trump described.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not unusual for President Trump to call for more investment from partners in allies when it comes to defence,\u201d Chalmers said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to the commitment in the Strait of Hormuz, as far as I\u2019m aware, there hasn\u2019t been a formal request from the Americans along those lines.\u201d<\/p>\n Australia has already agreed to participate in \u201cappropriate efforts\u201d to help reopen the strait at the right time, along with dozens of other countries.<\/p>\n Asked about the discrepancy between what Trump was claiming and Australia\u2019s position, and whether Albanese needed to speak with the US president to sort it out, Chalmers said the two leaders maintained a \u201cgreat working relationship\u201d and spoke from time to time.<\/p>\n Related Article Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles this week announced Labor would spend an extra $53 billion on defence over the next decade<\/a>, taking the expenditure to 3 per cent by 2033 using the NATO definition, which includes military pensions.<\/p>\n The US had been asking Australia to lift spending to 3.5 per cent \u2013 although Trump digressed on that when he was asked during Albanese\u2019s White House visit last year.<\/p>\n Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what\u2019s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f8b298b47b84ef3369ffcdba9b577196e803096d.jpeg\")
Donald Trump has repeated his accusations that Australia did not help him in Iran or the Strait of Hormuz.Bloomberg<\/p>\n![\"Treasurer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0faf96550826b2f03c2fb8be227a538baf6f81cf.jpeg\")
Treasurer Jim Chalmers seen during a TV interview in Washington on Thursday.Bloomberg<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5b872a7e8b0f4c5df694c80904ea616fa25da6ad.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/369958dc66697d0627416b0b8924e301553f0262.png\")
Michael Koziol<\/a> is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated April 17, 2026 \u2014 8:54am,first published 4:37am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-611836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}