Turnbull and Trump meeting expected to happen in May

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and US President Donald Trump’s meeting is reportedly now being planned. It would be the first time that the two leaders will meet in flesh after their controversial phone call.

The Australian leader is set for a visit in New York to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the battle of the Coral Sea with her American counterpart. According to Fairfax Media, the meeting would take place on board a battleship in New York Harbour.

Turnbull’s visit is expected to take place between May 4-8. However, some federal government advisers do not think that the timing of the trip is right because the federal budget is scheduled to be handed down on May 9. “The anniversary of the beginning of the battle falls on the Thursday before the budget, and there’s usually some major decisions left to the Thursday and Friday before the budget papers are printed on the weekend,” an Australian official reportedly said.

The news comes following Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s meeting with US vice-president Mike Pence, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Trump's newly announced National Security Adviser, Lieutenant-General H.R. McMaster in Washington, DC. She took the opportunity to share Australia's view on various issues such as North Korea's nuclear program and the anti-Islamic State campaign in Iraq and Syria. The foreign minister told News Corp Australia she invited Pence to visit the Land Down Under “as soon as possible”.

Bishop said both countries being close friends have been evident in her meetings. “We are close friends, and that has been quite evident from my meetings with not only the administration officials but also the intelligence community and others with whom I’ve met during my time here in Washington,” she said.

The Australian and US navies have fought together against the Japanese fleet at the Battle of the Coral Sea. It was a threshold moment of World War Two as the two countries managed to break Japan's unrelenting drive south.

Earlier this month, reports about the controversial phone call between Turnbull and Trump have surfaced. The US president supposedly criticised a deal to take migrants from Australia, describing it as a “dumb deal.””Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal! Trump tweeted. Meanwhile, the Australian prime minister is set to welcome Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Saturday following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit.