US President Donald Trump has praised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a great leader. Photo: White House.
“All is forgiven,” are the words Donald Trump reportedly told Australia’s Ambassador to Washington, Kevin Rudd, once an internationally watched meeting was over and the cameras turned off.
But those words came after the US President publicly shamed Mr Rudd in front of the whole world, from a White House media conference held jointly with Anthony Albanese.
The Prime Minister could hardly contain his excitement during the press conference, first over finally securing the long-hoped-for meeting, but also with the President praising him and hailing Australia as one of America’s longest and greatest allies.
But when Mr Trump was asked by an Aussie journalist if there was any awkwardness over comments Mr Rudd had made about him, the President didn’t seem to know who Australia’s ambassador was.
Before Mr Trump was re-elected President, and before Mr Rudd was appointed Ambassador to the US, Mr Rudd described Mr Trump as a threat to democracy, a traitor to the West, a village idiot and destructive.
Asked about it at the press conference, the President turned to the PM and said: “Did an ambassador say something bad about me? Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.”
Mr Albanese smiled and nervously laughed, but when Mr Trump asked if the Ambassador was still in the PM’s employ, the Prime Minister simply pointed to Mr Rudd sitting barely 2 metres away on the other side of the table.
Mr Trump looked directly at Mr Rudd and asked if he’d said bad things about him.
As Mr Rudd attempted to reply by saying it was before his current appointment, the President chimed in with: “I don’t like you either. And I probably never will.”
The moment appeared jocular, even if a tad uncomfortable for Australia’s PM and Ambassador.
Following the media conference, Mr Rudd reportedly leaned in closer to the President and offered a sincere apology for his earlier remarks, to which Mr Trump told him all was forgiven.
For many, the feisty exchange in front of the cameras will be the highlight of Mr Albanese’s visit to Washington.
But in fact, a lot was achieved in this important meeting.
Mr Trump endorsed AUKUS and also signed an $8.5 billion rare earths deal with Australia.
That’s in addition to calling Mr Albanese a “great leader”.
The pair signed a landmark bilateral framework on critical minerals and rare earths at the White House on Monday (20 October, Washington DC time).
This will see an accelerated pipeline of priority projects delivered by and for the two nations.
It will deliver a US-Australia secured supply chain for critical minerals and rare earths, required for defence and other advanced technologies.
Mr Albanese said the pact represents a significant new chapter in the more than 70 years of the formal Australia-US alliance.
“There are no closer friends and allies than the United States of America and Australia,” the Prime Minister said.
“President Trump and I agreed today we will work very hard together in both our nations’ interests.
“We’ve agreed today Australia and America are going to make more things together with our historic framework on critical minerals.
“Australia is home to much of the periodic table of critical minerals and rare earth metals that are vital for defence and other advanced technologies.
“Cooperation on critical minerals and rare earth supply chains is testament to the trusted partnership between Australia and the United States as strategic defence allies.
“I look forward to continuing to work with President Trump to strengthen our partnership and support American and Australian workers, businesses and investors.”
For the Federal Opposition, however, any good news from the meeting was overshadowed by Mr Rudd’s presence.
The Coalition has long questioned Mr Rudd’s suitability for the job as US Ambassador, and says the exchange in the White House shows why.
While Foreign Minister Penny Wong praised Mr Rudd’s role in pulling the meeting together and in getting the rare earths deal across the line – adding that Mr Trump’s comments to Mr Rudd were “clearly tongue-in-cheek”- Opposition Leader Sussan Ley sees it differently.
“That’s not my take-out,” Ms Ley said during an interview with Channel Seven.
“And I’m a bit surprised that the President didn’t even know who the Australian Ambassador was, and that in itself tells you what the relationship is like.
“When the Ambassador is the punchline of the joke and the Prime Minister is actually laughing at him, I think it tells you all we need to know about the fact it’s probably not reasonable that he [Mr Rudd] continue in the role.”
