Trump administration 'extremely serious' on Australia increasing defence spending as AUKUS review used as leverage to force Albanese's hand

Sky News AU

2 days ago

The Trump administration is using a review of the AUKUS submarine deal as leverage to force Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's hand on defence spending.
The United States President Donald Trump, and his officials, are frustrated with Mr Albanese's refusal to increase defence spending and his flippant attitude that it's an issue of sovereignty.
They're also concerned about his commitment to the alliance more broadly, and specifically, his reluctance to robustly call out China's aggression in the Indo-Pacific region, according to multiple high-level sources.
Sharri Markson will cover this story on her program later tonight. Tune in from 8pm on Sky News Austra lia.
The Pentagon has publicly announced a review of the AUKUS alliance, between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, in a dramatic move that puts into doubt Australia's defence future.
Senior national security sources, on the condition of confidentiality, told Sky News that Australia should have been proactive on the defence budget, particularly after Europe signed up to a 3.5 per cent target.
Australia's position to keep defence spending at just under 2 per cent is considered unsustainable in the current strategic environment, which even the Albanese government acknowledges is the most volatile in recent history.
The Trump administration gave Australia time and space on the issue of defence spending to avoid interfering with the May federal election. They were also waiting to see the outcome before pressing ahead with negotiations.
But confidential sources said the Trump administration 'is extremely serious' about needing Australia to lift its game on defence spending, irrespective of budget constraints.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth made the point directly to Defence Minister Richard Marles in Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue.
Mr Marles then audaciously shied away from publicly revealing the figure that the United States was pushing Australia to spend on defence, leading Hegseth to put the figure out there of 3.5 per cent of GDP.
The issue escalated further when Mr Albanese repeatedly and testily pushed back on the request to increase defence spending, claiming it was an issue of sovereignty.
It's understood that the Trump administration saw this response as unserious and staggering.
There was concern that Australia thought it could get a free pass from increasing our defence spend, for no good reason, when the rest of the world was prepared to play its part.
The NATO partners, and others, readily acknowledge the geo-strategic threat and are stepping up.
Australia has made a point of sticking with the Paris agreement, leading the way internationally on climate targets.
But they are not taking the same approach on defence spending.
Australian defence officials met with their counterparts in Washington several weeks ago and were well aware of the expectation from the United States.
The Albanese government was on notice.
The United States is also looking for Mr Albanese to reinforce his commitment to the US alliance more broadly.
The view is that he should be prepared to call out China in a robust fashion, which he has steadfastly refused to do even in the face of egregious action against Australia.
While Mr Albanese insists defence spending is a matter of sovereignty, he wasn't as strong on sovereignty when it came to a Chinese warship circumnavigating the coast.
The People's Liberation Army Task Group 107 launched live-fire exercises west of Hobart in February, yet there was barely a peep from Mr Albanese.
This astounded the United States government. Their view is Australia's response should be more muscular and we should at least call out provocative behaviour when it occurs.
Instead, Mr Albanese defended China's actions.
In an interview with Sky News, former prime minister Scott Morrison said the Albanese Government needed to keep making the case for AUKUS.
He said his impression is that President Trump had always been committed to it. But he also stressed that Australia needs to make it clear it's aligned on the threat China poses.
'We have to be very clear that we share the strategic intent which is to deter aggressors in the Indo-Pacific,' he said.
'That was a point that we made strongly at the time, which was well understood and well-appreciated, and I don't believe there's been any fundamental change to that. I think the tone of that has changed but what I've heard from Marles on that is that intent was still there.'
Mr Morrison was very diplomatic in his language when he said there had been a change in tone from the Albanese government on China.
The United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has also publicly expressed his disappointment with the Albanese government's hostile foreign policy platform on Israel after sanctions were issued against two controversial Israeli ministers.
But there's a wider issue here, as well.
Mr Albanese is also moving against America's interest at the United Nations and in other foreign policy areas with respect to Israel.
Unless the Prime Minister changes his tune on defence in the next few days - he won't have an easy meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the G7.
Mr Albanese may not personally care about the optics of this because Trump is out of favour politically in Australia.
But he should care. Trump controls the commitment to AUKUS which is critical for the protection of our nation.
Primarily, this AUKUS review is leverage over Mr Albanese for an increased defence commitment.
Trump has got Mr Albanese over a barrel and if he loses AUKUS, under his watch, it would be disastrous - particularly if he loses it because of his stubborn refusal to commit to a higher defence target.