The exchange stood out as a rare tense moment in an otherwise friendly meeting dominated by mutual praise between Albanese and Trump.
How the Trump-Rudd exchange played out
Reporter: “There’s been some concern in Australia it’s taken nine months to get this meeting. Have you had any concerns with this administration? With its stance on Palestine, climate change or even things the Australian ambassador has said about you in the past?”
Trump: “I don’t know anything about him. If he said bad, then maybe he’d like to apologise?”
Trump to Albanese: “Did an ambassador say something bad about me? Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. Where is he? Is he still working for you?”
Albanese: “Yeah, yeah, right there.”
Albanese points to Rudd on the opposite side of the table [laughter in the room].
Trump: “You said bad?”
Rudd: “Before I took this position Mr president…”
Trump: “I don’t like you either [laughter], and I probably never will.”
Trump signed onto a wide-ranging critical minerals agreement with Australia, endorsed the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine pact and appeared unfazed about Australia’s level of defence spending.
Rudd has been hailed as a driving force behind the critical minerals deal and is widely acknowledged to have built strong connections with Democrats and Republicans in the US capital.
He also has a close personal relationship with Albanese.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said Rudd’s position in Washington had become “untenable” after the exchange and that “I don’t believe he should stay in that role”.
“It’s taken nearly a year to get this meeting, and that’s been a failure of the ambassador,” she told Sky News.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump in the White House.Credit: Bloomberg
“And 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 about the fact that it’s probably not reasonable that he continue in the role because there are critically important issues to address.”
A government spokesperson fired back, saying: “The only person who should be worried about their job security is Sussan Ley.”
Rudd scrubbed critical comments about Trump from his online record after Trump’s election victory last year, including posts in which he said Trump was “the most destructive president in history” and a “traitor to the West”. Video subsequently emerged of Rudd describing Trump as a “village idiot” in 2021.
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Rudd was appointed to his ambassadorial role in December 2022.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong defended Rudd, arguing the president’s remarks were tongue-in-cheek. “We heard the laughter,” Wong told Today. “We know that we had a very successful meeting … He’s worked so hard on ensuring AUKUS and the delivery of the submarines in our national interest”.
A well-connected diplomatic source said they believed Rudd was in Washington for the long haul.
“You would need to lever him out of there, and Albanese has no intention of doing so,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss sensitive matters.
“They can keep him there until they think there is someone who can do the job better.”
US ambassador Kevin Rudd, sitting across the table from Donald Trump.Credit: Getty Images
Kevin Hogan, the opposition trade spokesman, said: “Rudd needs to be removed immediately given his unprofessional comments he has made about the US president. It is compromising the relationship between Australia and the US.”
Hogan said the benchmark for success was not met given Trump did not provide any reduction to the 50 per cent tariff rate on steel and aluminium exports.
“This is a great disappointment to everyone who works in these industries,” Hogan said. “The UK has achieved this carve out. Albanese has failed.”
Australian exports to the US have the equal lowest general tariff rate at 10 per cent.
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Former US ambassador Kim Beazley said Rudd would have ultimately been relieved to have had the opportunity to clear the air with Trump.
“I would have thought for Kevin that would be a big relief,” Beazley said, adding he believed that Rudd’s position in Washington was secure.
Dennis Richardson, also a former ambassador to the US, said Rudd deserved credit for driving forward the critical minerals pact and securing high-level support for AUKUS.
“It was a highly successful meting and you can’t achieve that without the ambassador in Washington with good access,” he said.
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Former US ambassador Arthur Sinodinos said Trump’s exchange with Rudd was a matter of “live by the sword, you die by the sword”.
“Clearly, some remarks that Kevin had made in the past got picked up by the president, or he was reminded of them and made his views very clear,” Sinodinos told Today.
“I don’t think this means that prime minister Albanese is about to junk the ambassador or anything like that.
“They’re very close, and it would look as if he was succumbing to pressure to do that.”
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