June 12 (UPI) — Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles announced Thursday he feels that the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal which connects with the United Kingdom and United States, will continue after the Trump administration reviews the pact.
“I am very confident this is going to happen,” he told ABC News, as he believes AUKUS is of strategic interest to all three nations.
The Pentagon has expressed that the 2021 deal is being reassessed to make sure it’s a fit with President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda before he meets with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the G7 summit taking place in Canada next week.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also had met with Marles, who is also Australia’s Minister for Defense, earlier this month and recommended Australia increase its defense spending to 3.5 percent of its GDP.
Albanese said in a press conference Tuesday that he thinks “that Australia should decide what we spend on Australia’s defense” when asked about a defense spending boost, while not directly addressing if he would risk losing the AUKUS deal over that decision as questioned.
The Pentagon review is being led by U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, who in the past has been critical of the deal made under the Biden administration to arm Australia with nuclear subs that use advanced American and British technology.
“In principle it’s a great idea,” Colby posted to X about AUKUS in August of 2024,” but added he’s “agnostic” about the program.
However, Colby also posted that day he was “convinced we should focus on Asia, readying for a war with China” in order to avoid it.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian announced Thursday in a press conference when asked about his nation’s opinion on the possibility of an end to AUKUS that China opposes “manufacturing bloc confrontation and anything that amplifies the risk of nuclear proliferation and exacerbates arms race.”
