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During a conversation on Today this morning, Albanese described his recent meeting with Trump as “warm” and noted that it spanned several hours. The discussions culminated in a significant $8.5 billion deal on critical minerals, alongside Trump expressing his support for the AUKUS agreement.
“He’s a friend of Australia,” Albanese remarked, emphasizing the positive relationship between the two nations.
Despite the overall friendly tone, the meeting encountered a moment of tension when Trump addressed comments made by Kevin Rudd, a former Prime Minister of Australia. Prior to his role as ambassador, Rudd had posted online, labeling Trump as “destructive” and “a traitor to the West,” although these remarks have since been deleted.
Addressing Rudd directly, Trump quipped, “I don’t like you, and I probably never will,” a statement that reportedly elicited laughter from those present.
Albanese later confirmed that Rudd offered an apology to Trump for his past comments once the meeting had moved away from the public eye.
“(Trump) said, ‘he looks like a good guy, is he a nice guy?’, I said ‘he is a nice guy’ … and he said, ‘oh well, all is forgiven’,” Albanese said.
He said Rudd would fulfil his four-year term as ambassador, praising his “magnificent” work on Capitol Hill and slamming the federal opposition for demanding his removal.
“Ambassadors don’t meet leaders. I don’t meet ambassadors and neither does President Trump,” Albanese said.
“But Kevin Rudd has met every single member of Congress, I think. And he is well-liked on the Hill and he gets things done.”
He said Trump’s rebuke was “pretty light-hearted”.
“It says something about how important we place our relationship with the US that we appointed a former prime minister (as ambassador),” Albanese said.