Minutes after Donald Trump returned from an impromptu stroll through a park cleared by tear gas to pose in front of a church brandishing a bible, the US President rang Scott Morrison.
It was a 15-minute call in which Trump extended an invitation to attend the G7 summit in the United States in September.
The Prime Minister told the President he was pleased to accept the invitation, as he did last year when French President Emmanuel Macron invited the PM to be an observer.
But this invitation comes with some big differences and complex political entanglements.
Morrison was invited to attend the summit as a “guest of the 2020 presidency”, reflecting the fact the meeting would take place just two months before what was likely to be the most hostile presidential election campaign in decades.
No world leader would want to be unnecessarily caught up in such an environment.
Indeed, Morrison had