Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has strongly defended his ambassador to the US after Donald Trump said he did not like the diplomat during a highly-publicised meeting at the White House.

On Monday, Trump was asked about Kevin Rudd, who – before he became ambassador in 2023 – posted several tweets critical of the US leader. He later deleted the posts.

Rudd, who was sat opposite Trump in the Cabinet Room, owned up to the tweets, prompting Trump to say “I don’t like you either” and causing the room to erupt in laughter.

Trump later told Rudd “all is forgiven” while Albanese said the ambassador was doing a “fantastic job” who “works his guts out” and dismissed calls to sack him.

Rudd, a former Australian Prime Minister, was appointed as ambassador in 2023 for a four-year posting, which is due to end in March 2027.

In 2020, he wrote that Trump was the “most destructive president in history” and a “traitor to the West”. Another post described Trump as a “village idiot”.

Hours after Trump’s comments, Albanese praised Rudd’s work as ambassador at a Friends of Australia breakfast attended by US politicians.

“If there’s a harder working ambassador on The Hill, then please let me know, because Kevin works his guts out and he seems to know everyone,” he told Republican and Democratic members of Congress at the event.

A prominent Republican, Michael McCaul, agreed with Albanese, joking that he was glad Rudd was still “gainfully employed”.

McCaul also said that “Kevin was there every step of the way” during talks on Aukus, a multi-billion dollar submarine deal between Australia, the UK and the US.

Albanese said the success of his two-day trip to the US – which included the signing of an $8.5bn (A$13bn; £6.3bn) rare earths deal – was due to Rudd’s efforts.

“I thank you today, very much publicly – for the success of this visit is down to your hard work,” he said, addressing Rudd at an event for the 140th anniversary of mining giant BHP.

Earlier, Australia’s opposition leader Sussan Ley had called for Rudd to be sacked.