Thursday | June 12, 2025
WASHINGTON — The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has initiated a formal review of the AUKUS defense pact—a major trilateral agreement between the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom—originally established under former President Joe Biden. The pact enables Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, a move seen by Canberra as vital to its defense amid rising tensions with China.
Despite the review, Australian officials affirmed their commitment to the AUKUS agreement and expressed readiness to work closely with the U.S. throughout the process. However, the move has triggered concern not only in Australia but also in the U.K., where AUKUS is central to planned investments in submarine expansion. The pact, valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars, has been a cornerstone of British defense planning.
“We are reviewing AUKUS to ensure it aligns with President Trump’s America First agenda,” a U.S. defense official said, confirming a report first published by the Financial Times. “Any changes in our approach will be communicated through official channels at the appropriate time.”
Under the original framework, Australia would purchase up to five Virginia-class submarines from the U.S. starting in 2032. Later, a new class of submarines would be co-designed and built by the U.K. and Australia, with U.S. support. The U.K. would receive the first vessels in the late 2030s, with Australia following in the early 2040s. Ahead of those milestones, U.S. and British submarines are scheduled to begin forward rotations at an Australian naval base in Western Australia by 2027.
Among the critics within the Trump administration is Elbridge Colby, a senior Pentagon adviser, who has raised concerns about the strain on U.S. defense resources. He argued last year that nuclear-powered submarines are both rare and crucial, and the U.S. may not be able to meet its own needs while supplying allies.
“These submarines are a crown jewel of our defense posture—why are we giving them away at a time when we need them most?” Colby questioned at the time.
Currently, only six nations possess nuclear-powered submarines: the U.S., U.K., Russia, China, France, and India.
A spokesperson for Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles confirmed that both Australia and the U.K. had been informed of the U.S. review. “AUKUS will strengthen both U.S. and Australian defense industries and create thousands of manufacturing jobs,” the spokesperson said.
The U.K. government echoed that sentiment, calling AUKUS “one of the most strategically important partnerships in decades,” which also drives job creation and economic growth across the three countries. “It’s entirely reasonable for a new administration to reassess such a major initiative—just as the U.K. did last year,” a British official noted, emphasizing continued collaboration to realize AUKUS’s full potential.
The White House has not issued an official comment, but one Trump administration source told Reuters that all foreign agreements are being reassessed “to ensure they serve the interests of the American people, particularly those born from Biden’s failed foreign policy.”
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned against weakening the pact. “AUKUS is essential to preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Kaine said. “Undermining it would directly benefit China.” Kaine represents Virginia, where many of the U.S. Navy’s submarines are built.
Australia’s biggest defense investment
AUKUS represents the largest defense undertaking in Australia’s history, with Canberra committing A$368 billion (approximately US$240 billion) over three decades. The investment includes significant funding for the U.S. defense industrial base to support the construction of nuclear-powered submarines.
In a related development, the British government on Tuesday unveiled plans to inject billions of pounds into its submarine sector as part of its Strategic Defence Review. The funding will support facilities such as BAE Systems in Barrow and Rolls-Royce Submarines in Derby, aimed at building up to 12 next-generation attack submarines. These submarines are part of the trilateral AUKUS project and are intended to be co-developed by the U.K., U.S., and Australia.
Testifying before Congress on Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington was “having honest conversations with our allies,” adding with regard to Australia: “We want to ensure that their capabilities not only support their own submarines but also enhance integration with our forces as allies.”
However, skepticism persists. Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who negotiated a now-canceled submarine deal with France, expressed doubts about AUKUS’s viability. Speaking to CNBC last week, he remarked, “It’s more likely than not that Australia will end up without any submarines—just a major U.S. Navy base and maintenance facilities in Western Australia.”
John Lee, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and AUKUS expert, said the Pentagon review is primarily assessing whether the U.S. can feasibly supply up to five Virginia-class submarines to Australia, given it is already struggling to meet its own naval production targets.
Kathryn Paik, a former Biden White House official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, argued that transferring submarines to Australia would not compromise U.S. military readiness. “It would, in fact, enhance collective deterrence,” she said. Still, she acknowledged that the Trump administration’s review is likely to unsettle allies. “This review most definitely makes our partners in Canberra and London uneasy and could erode confidence in America’s reliability as an ally.”