Anthony Albanese should be prepared to sacrifice Kevin Rudd as Australia’s ambassador to the US in the national interest should Donald Trump win the knife-edge election, the opposition says.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham warned of the risks if Dr Rudd found himself on the outer after Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, suggested on Friday that the former prime minister may not be a suitable person for the role given his previous comments disparaging the former president.