A Republican with solid conservative credentials including MAGA and going back to the Tea Party movement could soon be the next US ambassador to Australia.

President Donald Trump ended long speculation about the empty role and announced on Tuesday (AEST) that he’d nominated ex-Virginia congressman representative David Brat.

The top diplomatic position has been vacant since 2024.

The appointment comes amid pressure on the relationship between Australia and the US over the Iran war, with Trump repeatedly slamming Australia for not helping open the Strait of Hormuz.

A self-described “free trader”, Brat is a hardline defender of Trump’s punitive tariff regime, arguing the import taxes are needed to counter other countries’ unfair trade practices.

The Australian Financial Review called him a “loyal conservative Christian economist”.

In 2022 he urged Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia to end Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would work with Trump’s nominee.

“That is a decision for the United States. I understand that the President will put forward David Brat as ambassador. And there’s a process of confirmation that occurs through the US processes,” Albanese said.

“We respect the sovereignty of countries to put forward ambassadors, just like we expect our choices to be endorsed.”

Trump had not appointed an ambassador to Australia throughout the first year of his presidency, a similar situation to his first term, where it took him almost three years to appoint someone.

Brat represented Virginia’s seventh congressional district in the US House of Representatives for the Republicans.

He made headlines in 2014 as a giant-slayer after defeating incumbent US House majority leader Eric Cantor, one of the US’s highest-ranking politicians, in a primary election to be the Republican candidate for the seat.

A member of the Tea Party movement, Brat won election for the House of Representatives later that year and served two terms.

He lost his seat at the 2018 elections to Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who is now Virginia’s governor.

After leaving congress, Brat was named dean of Liberty University’s school of business in Virginia.

Caroline Kennedy was the previous US ambassador to Australia.

The ambassador position is yet to be finalised as the appointment must be ratified by the US Senate.

If successful in his selection, Brat will succeed Caroline Kennedy in the role of ambassador to Australia.

Kennedy, the only surviving child of former Democratic president John F. Kennedy, was appointed under the Biden administration.

-with AAP