Joe Biden is re-evaluating his plan to visit Australia next week, where he had been due to address the Australian parliament as the first US president in nearly 10 years to speak to a joint session of MPs and senators in Canberra.
Officials had confirmed that Biden would make the speech on Tuesday 23 May, the day before he attends the Quad summit in Sydney with the prime ministers of Australia, Japan and India.
However on Wednesday morning the White House revealed they were considering cancelling the entire Australian visit as a result of the deadlock in negotiations with Congress to raise the US debt ceiling.
Biden is still confirmed to travel to Hiroshima for this week’s G7 meeting, however “we are re-evaluating the rest of the trip right now”, White House spokesman John Kirby said, including the Australian leg.
He said Biden would still meet Albanese at the G7, as well as India’s Narendra Modi, but it was “prudent and reasonable for the president to look at the rest of the trip and evaluate whether it makes sense”.
“These leaders, all leaders of democracies … they know that our ability to pay our debts is a key part of US credibility and leadership around the world,” Kirby said. “And so they understand that the president also has to focus on making sure that we don’t default.”
Kirby said Biden was able to do “both things”, to travel overseas and also work with congressional leaders. He emphasised he was not “teasing” a cancellation but simply explaining what was going on and that a decision would be made “relatively soon”.
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said on Tuesday he was pleased that Biden had taken up his invitation to address parliament, an honour also afforded to Barack Obama in 2014.
“This will be the fifth joint address to the Australian parliament by a US president and demonstrates the warmth, depth and strength of the Australia-US Alliance,” the Australian government said in a statement.
Albanese and Biden would also have a bilateral meeting focusing on “elevating global climate ambition and accelerating the clean energy transition”, the statement said.
While officials step up their preparations for the Quad summit and numerous side events, the Australian government is warning of “barriers” in implementing the Aukus security partnership with the US and the UK
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, will say in a speech on Wednesday that the full ambition of Aukus will only be realised if the transfer of technology and information between Australia and the US is “seamless”.
Much of the initial focus has been on Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, starting with buying three to five Virginia class boats from the US in the 2030s.
But Aukus is also meant to trigger broader collaboration on advanced defence technology, such as artificial intelligence, hypersonic weapons and undersea warfare.
The Australian government’s budget last week allocated $148m over four years towards what are known as the Aukus “pillar 2” projects.
In a keynote address to the American Chamber of Commerce in Adelaide, Marles will say the government is “focused on developing asymmetric technologies that will help deter future conflicts”.
But Marles will say that technology transfer barriers in the US and Australia “are vast and complex”. That includes export controls in the US known as international trafficking in arms regulations (Itar).
Marles will say Australia has been having “productive” conversations with the US, including the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, about Itar “and how we can translate that shared understanding and positive intent into action”.
“We are encouraged by the momentum we’re seeing at all levels across the Australian and US to overcome these hurdles,” Marles will say, according to speech extracts released by his office.
“But we need supportive voices in business to keep this momentum going.
“Your role in building the seamless defence industrial base between our countries is pivotal, because improving technology transfer and information sharing between the US, the UK and Australia is at the heart of maximising the full potential of the Aukus agreement.”
Albanese most recently met Biden in March in San Diego, when they were joined by the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to announce details of the submarine project.
There had been speculation that Biden might have to alter his planned travel to the region because of a standoff over the debt ceiling in the US – but the Australian leg of the trip was confirmed on Tuesday.
Albanese said he was looking forward to hosting the Quad leaders’ summit at the Sydney Opera House on Wednesday 24 May, describing it as “the largest, most significant gathering in Australia since we hosted the G20 a decade ago”.
He will also have a bilateral meeting with the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the two leaders will speak at a community event in Sydney.
A meeting between Albanese and the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, will be the pair’s seventh to date. Prior to the Quad events, Albanese will travel to Japan for the G7 summit in Hiroshima from Friday to Sunday.
