In wake of tense Trump call, Pence aims to soothe Australia
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Vice President Mike Pence will be working to smooth over any lingering hard feelings with Australia more than two months after President Donald Trump got into a spat with the country's prime minister.
Pence will meet with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday as part of his 10-day, four-country trip to Asia. His agenda includes reassuring Turnbull about the state of the unusually strained U.S.-Australia alliance.
The affection the longtime allies usually share for each other is rooted in decades of cooperation on defense, intelligence and trade.
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But Australia was unhappy with Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. Then Trump and Turnbull had a contentious phone call in January over a refugee resettlement deal struck by the previous Obama administration.