Washington: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has strongly backed his ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, following an awkward encounter with President Donald Trump, calling him an “outstanding representative” of Australia and crediting him with the success of the visit to Washington.
Albanese said he told Trump it was testament to the importance of the alliance that Australia had dispatched a former prime minister to be its ambassador to the US, a job that Rudd “didn’t have to do”.
The awkwardness of the interaction was immediately apparent to everybody but Trump, who did not realise that Rudd was sitting across the table from him.Credit: Getty
As the Coalition calls for Rudd to be sacked, Albanese sang his praises at two key events in Washington, saying that no other ambassador worked harder because “it is not possible to work harder than Kevin Rudd does”.
At a lunch at the Australian embassy marking the 140th anniversary of BHP, Albanese said Rudd deserved the credit for the success of the visit, which saw the US and Australia ink a major critical minerals deal and affirm the AUKUS defence pact.
However, at a news conference, Albanese refused to answer questions about the remaining “ambiguities” in the AUKUS agreement, despite acknowledging they were discussed with administration officials at yesterday’s engagements.
“We’re not preempting that,” Albanese told reporters. While he said the potential changes to AUKUS were discussed at Monday’s meeting, “we don’t make announcements about AUKUS and [its] structure at a press conference”.
During the public portion of yesterday’s meeting, US Navy Secretary John Phelan said there were still “ambiguities” about AUKUS which had to be ironed out.
Trump described them as “minor”, while Albanese played them down overnight, instructing reporters: “Don’t look for something that’s not there.”
Albanese said he spent nearly three hours with Trump on Monday (Tuesday AEDT), including a tour of the Oval Office and White House grounds, and a private meeting with the US president.
He confirmed he asked Trump for relief from the so-called reciprocal tariffs – which Australia argues should be set at zero – but would not elaborate on what administration’s response. “We’ll continue to engage,” he said.
As part of the visit, Australia gave the Trumps an official gift: a model submarine for him, and jewellery for his wife, First Lady Melania Trump. Later, Albanese met Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and had dinner with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Australian ambassador’s residence.
However, Rudd’s exchange with Trump nearly overshadowed the visit after the president was asked about Rudd’s old tweets – made before he became ambassador – calling Trump a “destructive” figure and a “traitor to the West”.
“You said bad? I don’t like you either,” Trump told Rudd to laughter. “And I probably never will.” Australian sources in the room said Rudd later apologised for a second time and Trump assured him all was forgiven.
Back home, the Coalition demanded Rudd be sacked, with Opposition Leader Sussan Ley calling his position “untenable”.
Anthony Albanese with Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York on Tuesday.Credit: Bloomberg
She blamed Rudd for the nine-month wait for a meeting between Trump and Albanese – though the two have spoken several times by phone – and told Sky News: “When the ambassador is the punchline of the joke and the prime minister is actually laughing at him, I think that tells us all we need to know.”
In addition to the BHP lunch, Albanese also praised Rudd to dozens of American senators and members of Congress at a high-powered breakfast function with the Friends of Australia Caucus.
“If there’s a harder working ambassador on the hill [Capitol Hill], then please let me know because Kevin works his guts out, and he seems to know everything,” Albanese said.
About 40 people attended the function at Blair House, including the co-chairs of the Friends of Australia group, Republican congressman Michael McCaul and Democratic congressman Joe Courtney, and several US senators from across the political aisle among about two dozen other lawmakers.
McCaul made light of Rudd’s encounter with Trump. “I’m glad you’re still gainfully employed,” he joked.
Speaking about the AUKUS pact, which is underpinned by legislation in Congress, McCaul said Rudd “was there every step of the way”.
“We have no greater ally and partner than Australia,” he said. With weaponry made in Australia such as the Navy’s “Ghost Shark” autonomous underwater vehicle, the two countries had the ability to “flood the zone” in the Indo-Pacific, McCaul said.
Rudd later accompanied Albanese to meetings at the US Congress, including with Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, and senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Republican committee chair Jim Risch and the top Democrat on the committee, Jeanne Shaheen.
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