‘Dumb deal’ drags Australia-US ties to new low after tense Trump call

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US President Donald Trump labeled a refugee swap deal with Australia "dumb" on Thursday after a Washington Post report of an acrimonious telephone call with Australia's prime minister threatened a rare rift in ties between the two staunch allies.

The Post reported that Trump described the resettlement plan as "the worst deal ever" and accused Australia of trying to export the "next Boston bombers". It said the call had been scheduled to last an hour but Trump cut it short after 25 minutes when Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull tried to turn to subjects such as Syria.

US President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the Oval Office in Washington, DC on January 28, 2017. /CFP Photo

Turnbull told reporters the call with Trump at the weekend had been frank and candid but refused to give further details.

"I do stand up for Australia. My job is to defend Australian interests," Turnbull said in Melbourne.

He refused to confirm the Post report that Trump, who had earlier spoken to world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, had angrily told him that the call was "the worst so far".

As reports of the conversation hit headlines on both sides of the world, Trump tweeted shortly before midnight in Washington: "Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal."

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (L) meets with then US President Barack Obama during the APEC Summit in Lima, Peru on November 20, 2016. /CFP Photo

That threw more confusion over the status of the controversial deal Australia agreed with former President Barack Obama late last year for the United States to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers held in offshore processing camps on Pacific islands in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

In return, Australia would resettle refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

The swap deal is at odds with Trump's executive order last week that suspended the US refugee program and restricted entry to the United States for travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

People hold up signs during a protest against US President Donald Trump's immigration rules at the Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, the United States on February 1, 2017. /CFP Photo

Many of those being held in Australian detention centers, which have drawn harsh criticism from the United Nations and rights groups, have fled violence in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer and the US Embassy in Australia have both said Trump would honor the deal.

(Source: Reuters)