Barry Soper: Jacinda Ardern's meeting with Donald Trump won;t be as warm as Scott Morrison's

COMMENT:

Well he's confirmed it, he's got a silver tongue - but unfortunately for him it's forked.

Australian Prime Minister Scott "Scomo" Morrison (or the King of Australia, as Donald Trump's called him) is basking in the glory of the stars and stripes.

This week he'll be only the second leader that The Don has invited to the White House for a right royal knees-up, a state dinner, complete with the tuxes and ballgowns. The only other leader to be afforded the honour was Trump's handshake wrestler, French President Emmanuel Macron.

Morrison's the first Aussie Prime Minister to get the presidential dinner seal of approval since John Howard was honoured way back in 2006. It was George W. Bush's way of saying thanks for Howard's contribution to the Iraq war, based on the fake premise that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction aimed at the west.

Obviously flattered by the invitation to dine at the White House, Morrison fired out a statement declaring: "There is no deeper friendship than that which exists between Australia and the United States."

Fair suck of the sav, when Scomo was here in February he said "there is no closer relationship than the one between Australia and New Zealand"!

Scott Morrison with Jacinda Ardern in Auckland in February. Photo / Pool

During Jacinda Ardern's first international outing as Prime Minister in a room of leaders featuring Trump she might have been mistaken by him as Justin Trudeau's wife, but there'll be no mistaking her when she hits the Big Apple next week.

She's having what would have to be a somewhat uncomfortable sitdown with him, given she doesn't come within cooee of the Scomo love. In fact on the day Trump was being sworn-in as President she was on a women's march to the Unites State Consulate in Auckland. Even though the placards said they wanted Trump dumped, Ardern now says it was about women's rights and celebrating how far they've come, nothing (at least in her mind) to do with Trump.

Little did she have an inkling then that two-and-a-half years later she'd be sitting down to meet with him. She wasn't even Labour's deputy leader in January 2017.

Mostly she's been diplomatic, although she "completely and utterly disagreed" with Trump just a couple of months ago when he was telling some Democrats to go back where they came from.

But there's no going back for her. She says she'll talk about a number of issues including a request for him to remove the American tariffs on steel and aluminium, which is bound to get her an invitation to the White House.

The success will be measured by the handshake.