President Joe Biden’s (D) national security advisor said president-elect Donald Trump will like the “burden sharing” of the AUKUS deal and maintain it in his presidency.
Jake Sullivan, head of the National Security Council, sat down for an interview with Australian think tank the Lowy Institute in December. When Lowy mentioned “a bit of concern in Australia about Mr. Trump’s commitment to AUKUS” given his “transactional” governing style and promise to cut government spending, Sullivan said the deal enhances “collective power on both sides.”
“Australia is directly contributing to the U.S. submarine industrial base so that we can build out this submarine capability, supply Australia in the nearer term with Virginia class submarines and then in the longer term with the AUKUS class submarine,” Sullivan said of the AUKUS agreement. “The United States is benefiting from burden sharing, exactly the kind of thing that Mr Trump has talked a lot about.”
Also in December, Australia’s defence and foreign ministers met their British counterparts in London ahead of Trump’s January inauguration and after the Labor government took over the U.K. Parliament to discuss their “steadfast commitment” to AUKUS. The ministers had planned this meeting before the U.S. presidential election, in early October, but did not meet officially until Dec. 16, according to the U.K. government’s website.
AUKUS is a trilateral agreement among Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. In the 2030s the U.S. plans to sell Australia three to five used and new Virginia-class submarines. Australia plans to build its own SSN-AUKUS boats the following decade.
“I do believe, I do have confidence in fact that this [AUKUS] will endure because I think the incoming administration will see the merit in it,” Sullivan said. “If you’re a friend to America, we have your back.”
