Sydney - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd received a frosty welcome from US President George W Bush when he arrived for the White House dinner that opened the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Washington, news reports said Saturday.
While other leaders of the world's top 20 developed and emerging economies received smiles and backslaps, Rudd earned a perfunctory handshake and a stony glare, Australia's AAP news agency reported.
Rudd raised Bush's ire by telling dinner guests after taking a call from Bush on October 20 that the leader of the free world had asked him, "What's the G20?"
A dinner guest at the prime minister's Sydney residence leaked the slur to the press. It was published locally and then taken up by US newspapers.