Trump administration reviewing Biden-era submarine pact with Australia, UK

US President Donald Trump’s administration has launched a formal review of former President Joe Biden’s AUKUS defense pact with Australia and Britain to allow Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, a US defense official said, Report informs via Reuters.

Australia, which sees the submarines as critical to its own defense as tensions grow over China’s expansive military buildup, said it remained committed to the project and looked forward to working closely with the US on the review.

As well as causing alarm in Australia, the review could also throw a wrench in Britain’s defense planning. AUKUS, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, is at the center of a planned expansion of Britain’s submarine fleet.

“We are reviewing AUKUS as part of ensuring that this initiative of the previous administration is aligned with the President’s America First agenda,” the US official said of the review, first reported by Financial Times.

“Any changes to the administration’s approach for AUKUS will be communicated through official channels, when appropriate.”

AUKUS was formed in 2021 to address worries about China’s growing power.

It envisages Australia acquiring up to five US Virginia-class submarines from 2032. Then, Britain and Australia would design and build a new class of submarine, with US assistance. The UK would take first delivery in the late 2030s, with delivery to Australia in the early 2040s.

Before that, the US and Britain would start forward rotations of their submarines in 2027 out of an Australian naval base in Western Australia.

Vocal skeptics among Trump’s senior policy officials include Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s top policy adviser, who cautioned last year that submarines were a scarce, critical commodity, and US industry could not produce enough to meet American demand.

Submarines would be central to US military strategy in any confrontation with China centered in the First Island Chain, running from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing China’s coastal seas.

“My concern is why are we giving away this crown jewel asset when we most need it,” Colby said last year.

Only six countries operate nuclear-powered submarines: the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and India.

A spokesperson for Australia Defense Minister Richard Marles said the US had informed Australia and the UK of the review.