Albanese backs ‘outstanding’ Rudd after Trump run-in, dismisses AUKUS questions
Albanese said he spent about 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.
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He confirmed he had asked Trump to exempt Australia from so-called reciprocal tariffs, which he argued should be set at zero, but did not elaborate on what the administration’s response would be. “We will continue to be interested,” he said.
As part of the visit, Australia gave the Trumps an official gift: a model submarine for himself and jewelry for his wife, First Lady Melania Trump. Later, Albanese met with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and had dinner with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Australian ambassador’s residence.
But Rudd’s meeting with Trump nearly overshadowed the visit when the president was asked about old tweets Rudd sent before he became ambassador, calling Trump a “destructive” figure and a “traitor to the West.”
Trump laughed at Rudd and said, “Did you say that badly? I don’t like you either.” “And I probably never will.” Australian sources in the room said Rudd later apologized a second time and Trump assured him all was forgiven.
Back home, the Coalition called for Rudd to be sacked, while Opposition Leader Sussan Ley described his position as “indefensible”.
Anthony Albanese with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York, on Tuesday.Credit: Bloomberg
He blamed Rudd for the nine-month wait for a meeting between Trump and Albanese – although the two had spoken by phone several times – and said: 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 everything 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 packed breakfast event with the Meeting of Friends of Australia.
“If there is an ambassador at the top who works harder [Capitol Hill]then please let me know because Kevin is doing his best and seems to know everything,” Albanese said.
About 40 people attended the event at Blair House, including the co-chairs of the Friends of Australia group, Republican congressman Michael McCaul and Democratic congressman Joe Courtney, and about two dozen other lawmakers, as well as several U.S. senators from across the political aisle.
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McCaul downplayed Rudd’s encounter with Trump. “I’m glad you’re still gainfully employed,” he joked.
Speaking about the AUKUS agreement, which is backed by congressional legislation, McCaul said Rudd “has been there every step of the way.”
“We have no greater ally and partner than Australia,” he said. With Australian-made weapons such as the Navy’s “Ghost Shark” autonomous underwater vehicle, the two countries have the ability to “flood the region” in the Indo-Pacific, McCaul said.
Rudd then accompanied Albanese to meetings in the US Congress, including Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, and senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Republican committee chairman Jim Risch and the committee’s top Democrat, Jeanne Shaheen.
