By STEPHEN JOHNSON, ECONOMICS REPORTER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
Kevin Rudd's older brother has given a candid assessment of the Australian ambassador's ability to deal with Donald Trump during tense trade negotiations.
In remarkably candid comments about his own family, Greg Rudd, himself a former Labor staffer and lobbyist, warned that Kevin thinks he is the 'biggest brain in the room' with a charming side - and not-so-charming side.
Greg also said Trump could use historic comments his brother made about the US President being the 'village idiot' against him in any negotiations, as Trump prepares to lift his 90-day pause on tariffs by August 1.
'He's been through a lot, Kevin, he's learnt a lot,' Greg said of the former prime minister.
'Do people who think that they're the biggest brain in the room really change?'
He also questioned how long Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would keep his brother as Australia's Ambassador in Washington DC, amid suggestions Trump disliked him.
'I'm assuming that the prime minister of the day will keep him there while it's more positive than negative to keep him there and if that ratio changes, then I'm sure the Prime Minister's view will change also. That's still fluid at this point in time,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
Greg also suggested Trump will use his brother's previous 'village idiot' remarks as leverage in any trade negotiation.
'Put it this way: he will use that to his advantage to anyone who has bagged him in the past,' he said.
'Kevin and I, we get along fine as brothers but we don't always necessarily agree on style or approach.'
The American President's 90-day pause was due to expire on July 9 and so far, his administration has only cut deals with the UK, China and Vietnam. The deadline has now been extended to August 1.
Trump has also met UK Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer several times, but is yet to meet with Albanese - limiting the prospect of getting relief from 50 per cent tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium.
Kevin Rudd, as a private citizen, said the US was 'run by a village idiot' as Trump's supporters in January 2021 stormed the Capitol building in Washington DC, refusing to accept that Joe Biden had won the election. He has since deleted his social media accounts.
Kevin Rudd also told the Asia Society: 'Donald as we know is not a leading intellectual force' and had also described him as a 'traitor to the West' and 'the most destructive president in history'.
Trump last year said Rudd was 'nasty' and would be unlikely to last long when he returned to the White House.
But Greg, a co-owner and director of Glengarry Advisory and Meet The Chiefs, said Trump would be unlikely to get hurt by his brother's previous comments.
Rudd's oldest brother Greg Rudd, a lobbyist and former Labor ministerial staffer, has told Daily Mail Australia that Trump could use comments like 'village idiot' as a bargaining tool during any trade negotiation
Greg Rudd said his younger brother, a former Labor prime minister of Australia, had long thought of himself as the smartest man in the room (they are pictured together as boys suring the early 1960s)
'He's a hard negotiator and he lets all that go to the keeper so long as people are willing to come to a deal at an appropriate point in time on an issue that he thinks he wants to do a deal on,' he said.
When it came to a confrontation with Trump, Greg said his brother was in a much weaker position and needed to be a confident man.
'You're talking about a whale and a minnow - you can't compare an ambassador with the President of the United States,' he said.
'Donald Trump doesn't respect weakness; it's a strongman's game.'
The Coalition's shadow trade minister Kevin Hogan said Kevin Rudd's comments about Trump were now hurting Australia.
'Rudd doesn't help this given some of the many unprofessional comments that he made over time about the US President - they were obviously very unprofessional comments that Rudd made about a democratically-elected President,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'Delivering them from X in your tweet account doesn't mean they're gone, as we tell our children, those things stay around forever.'
Hogan, the deputy leader of the Nationals, questioned whether Albanese had prioritised meeting Trump, noting Starmer had managed to secure a reduction in tariffs on UK steel and aluminium.
Trump has also met UK Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer several times but is yet to meeting with Australia's Labor PM Anthony Albanese - limiting the prospecting of getting relief from 50 per cent tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium
The Coalition's shadow trade minister Kevin Hogan (left with Nationals leader David Littleproud) said Kevin Rudd's comments about Trump were now hurting Australia
'Because he's had those physical meetings with Trump, he has been able to get an exemption and a lower tariff from the US on UK steel and aluminium products - lowered from 50 per cent to 25 per cent,' he said.
'Ours are still at 50 per cent - it shows the importance of having a physical meeting with him.'
Trump promised the UK would have zero steel and aluminium tariffs but they have since gone back up to 25 per cent, which is still lower than Australia's 50 per cent level.
'I don't think Albanese at the start of Trump's presidency made it a priority to visit him, made it a priority to get a physical meeting and now it's proving difficult to get one,' Hogan said.
'We have serious national security issues to talk to him about - re AUKUS.
'We have a serious disagreement with Trump re tariffs that our leader needs to talk to him about and it's been embarrassing, and very disappointing he hasn't been able to get a meeting.'