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During this a strange moment occurred Donald Trump’s meeting with Anthony Albanese on monday white House When the US President told Kevin Rudd, Australiais the ambassador of America, “I don’t like you… and I probably never will.”
The comments, made at the Cabinet Room table, drew laughter from Albanese, other Australian officials and journalists present.
Although he once described Rudd as “not the brightest bulb”, when asked by a reporter if his past relationship led to the long delay in meeting the current Australian Prime Minister, Trump suggested that he did not know the ambassador.
“I don’t know anything about him – if he said bad [things] “Maybe he would like to apologize,” Trump said.
We The President turned to Albanese, who was sitting on his right, to ask “Did any ambassador say anything bad about me?” Albanese smiled in response.
Trump immediately joked, “Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.”
We The President then turned to Albanese and asked whether the person in question was still with the Government. Albanese laughed and pointed across the table to Rudd.
“Did you say something bad?” Trump asked Rudd.
The ambassador began to clarify that his criticisms came before he assumed the ambassadorial role, but Trump cut in, saying, “I don’t like you either.”
He added, “And I probably never will.”
In November 2024, Rudd was confirmed as Albanese’s choice. We ambassador, a 2021 interview resurfaced in which the former prime minister called Trump “a village idiot” and “not a leading intellectual force.”
Rudd also called Trump “disastrous” and a “traitor to the West.” He later deleted his old social media posts criticizing Trump.
Opposition leader Susan Leigh immediately demanded Rudd’s removal, saying: “I’m a little surprised that the President didn’t even know who the Australian ambassador was, and that in itself tells you what the relationship is like.”
He told Channel Seven: “When the ambassador is the punchline of the joke and the Prime Minister is actually laughing at him, I think that’s all you need to be aware of is the fact that it’s probably not appropriate that he should continue in the role.”
Guardian Purported sources later confirmed that Rudd apologized to Trump after the media had left, to which the President responded, “All is forgiven”.
Albanese’s visit gave concrete diplomatic results AustraliaTrump supported the AUKUS security partnership and signed an $8.5 billion rare earth deal with the country.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong praised Rudd’s role in facilitating the talks. “Kevin did a great job, not only in getting the meeting, but in working on the critical minerals deal and AUKUS… and had success [the] The meeting reflects that work,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
A copy of the agreement released by the two governments said both countries would invest $1 billion in mining and processing projects over the next six months as well as set minimum price ceilings for critical minerals, a move that Western miners had long been demanding. A White House statement on the agreement said the investment would target $53 billion worth of critical minerals deposits, though it did not provide details on what type or location.
“In about a year from now, we’ll have so many critical minerals and rare earths that you won’t know what to do with them,” Trump told reporters. China’s Foreign Ministry did not comment directly on the deal but said on Tuesday that markets and trade options create global production and supply chains.
Major mineral resource countries should play an active role in ensuring the safety and stability of industrial and supply chains, and normal economic and trade cooperation, ministry spokesman Guo Jiaqun said at a regular news briefing.