AUKUS future under Donald Trump second presidency [Video]

When Donald Trump came to power in 2017, he moved swiftly to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership and the nuclear deal with Iran. Trump seemed to delight in tearing up the policies of his predecessor Barack Obama and challenging the conventional wisdom of the Washington foreign policy establishment.

What, then, would a re-elected Trump do with one of his successor Joe Biden’s major strategic initiatives, the AUKUS defence pact with Australia and the United Kingdom?

After scrapping Australia’s submarine contract with France’s Naval Group in 2021, both major parties have gone all in on AUKUS, leaving the nation even more dependent on its most important security partner. If the United States does not deliverthe three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines it has promised, Australia could be left with a gaping undersea capability gap just as the Indo-Pacific becomes more …