Albanese pushing case for AUKUS with ‘everyone' in US amid Pentagon review
Anthony Albanese says his government is engaging 'with everyone in the United States' in its bid to keep the AUKUS defence pact on track amid a snap review by the Pentagon.
The Prime Minister is planning a visit to see US President Donald Trump, although the dates are yet to be locked in.
He's also expected to travel to China in July for annual leader-level talks.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong will meet her US counterpart Marco Rubio in Washington this week, on the sidelines of the Quad ministerial meeting that also involves Japan and India.
The US has made it clear it expects its allies, including Australia, to significantly boost defence spending, with the Trump administration nominating a target level of 3.5 per cent of GDP.
There are fears in some quarters the 30-day AUKUS review, being run by Pentagon official Elbridge Colby, will give the administration leverage to lean even more heavily on Australia to lift spending.
Mr Albanese said his government had made representations to the US administration broadly, including between Defence ministers Richard Marles and Pete Hegseth, about the importance of the AUKUS pact.
'At every opportunity, Australia raises our points that we have … AUKUS benefits three countries, Australia, the UK and the US, but it does something more than that as well. It benefits the world, because it makes our region and the world more secure,' he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
Asked whether that included directly engaging with Mr Colby, the Prime Minister said repeatedly: 'We engage with everyone in the United States.'
China's ambassador Xiao Qian warned in an opinion piece published in The Australian on Monday that 'dramatically increasing military spending places a heavy fiscal burden on the countries involved' and would undermine efforts to boost economic growth.
Mr Albanese said the ambassador clearly spoke for China but his job was to speak for Australia.
As well as the defence issues, Australia is also seeking to remove the 10 per cent 'base' tariff Mr Trump has imposed on all imports along with the 50 per cent impost on steel and aluminium.
The so-called reciprocal tariffs will come into effect on July 9, after Mr Trump's 90-day pause on their imposition ends.
'We'll continue to put our case forward that it shouldn't be 10, it should be zero. That is what a reciprocal tariff would be,' Mr Albanese said.
'We have a US free trade agreement, of course, and we've put forward very clearly our arguments. We'll continue to do so.'
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