Source: Politics<\/p>\n
SEATTLE \u2014 In late May, Greg Moriarty formally\u00a0presented his credentials<\/a> to President Donald Trump as Australia\u2019s man in Washington. But it wasn\u2019t until mid-June that Moriarty encountered one of the U.S. officials he most needed to meet: Energy Secretary Chris Wright, whose department plays a key role in critical-minerals deals between the two countries.<\/p>\n Moriarty\u2019s encounter with Wright did not take place at the Energy Department\u2019s headquarters just off the National Mall in Washington, or at any of its many facilities around the country. Rather the men met at Lumen Field in Seattle, at last Friday\u2019s crucial World Cup match between their countries, where Wright led the U.S. delegation \u2014 an auspicious occasion for an envoy to make connections in a new post.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States is a very sports-mad country, so is Australia, so [it\u2019s] a great opportunity to get to know them on a different level, because you might touch on one or two items of business,\u201d Moriarty said in an interview. \u201cBut it\u2019s generally just so that you can both enjoy the spectacle and the connection that we both have through sports.\u201d<\/p>\n Moriarty also introduced himself to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a figure of\u00a0particular fascination in Australia<\/a> given that country\u2019s embrace of harsh Covid-era lockdowns, as well as members of Congress in attendance. Moriarty, a former defense secretary and national security adviser, will work to keep Washington\u2019s foreign-policy establishment focused on the Indo-Pacific in a year when its attention has drifted alternately to the Arctic, Caribbean and Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States is a superpower. It clearly has global commitments and global responsibilities,\u201d said Moriarty. \u201cBut Australia, we think that the United States\u2019s commitment to the Indo-Pacific is very solid.\u201d<\/p>\n In Seattle, however, business was front of mind for Moriarty, who finds himself fighting a new 12.5 percent tariff that the Trump administration has imposed on countries\u00a0accused of not doing enough to prevent slave labor<\/a> in their supply chains. At the waterfront Edgewater Hotel, Moriarty joined corporate leaders \u2014 including Microsoft\u2019s Australian-raised Deputy General Counsel Antony Cook, who has taken a leading role in the\u00a0company\u2019s approach to AI regulation<\/a>, and Mika\u00ebl Limapala\u00ebr of heavyweight pension fund Australian Super \u2014 to discuss the future of the bilateral trade relationship.<\/p>\n Moriarty is unusual among Australia\u2019s ambassadors to Washington for not having been a politician \u2014 his immediate predecessor, Kevin Rudd, previously served as the country\u2019s prime minister \u2014 but he already shows a deft instinct for intertwining economic ties, military alliances and cultural affinity. At one point, he linked a coming National Football League game in Melbourne to the arrival of nuclear submarines as part of the AUKUS security partnership. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really keen to sort of see how we can use American football to grow an audience in Australia, that will again be really good for the business connections and the people-to-people connections,\u201d said Moriarty. <\/p>\n \u201cAustralia will be ready to host the first rotation of U.S. submarines by the end of next year, and we\u2019re hoping that all the Americans who come down to and live down in Western Australia bring their own love of football.\u201d<\/p>\n