US Congress moves on ‘absurd’ technology-sharing regulations weakening AUKUS pact

Congress has taken steps to relax rules labelled “the most significant obstacle” to winning the strategic competition with China. See how they affect Australia.

The US Congress has taken its first step towards easing export controls that the Australian government, defence experts and American officials have warned could undermine the AUKUS pact.

Under legislation passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday (AEDT), the US State Department will be required to report within three months on American restrictions on sharing defence technology which must be relaxed for AUKUS to succeed.

Dealing with that red tape will be essential to the second pillar of the pact – focused on advanced capabilities including autonomous undersea vehicles, artificial intelligence, cyber warfare systems and hypersonic missiles – rather than Australia’s nuclear submarine plan.

Congressman Joe Courtney, a co-chair of the House’s AUKUS working group, said the legislation would ensure a “laser-like focus to remove any barriers that might occur from our system of export controls that are not aligned with this new enhanced alliance”.

Joe Biden and Anthony Albanese shake hands on the AUKUS submarine deal. Picture: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

He pointed to the words of former US Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral Harry Harris, who recently warned that “we could have every good intention in the world, but we could be bound up by our own regulation and our own regulatory policy”.

The Australian government had hoped President Joe Biden would unveil a solution to the export control issue at last week’s AUKUS submarine announcement in San Diego featuring Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

But a senior White House official said the administration was still looking “at what changes to our current export control arrangements would be appropriate to ensure that we’re able to move at the speed of relevance in our co-operation with the UK and Australia”.

“On the tech-sharing front, we’re confident that we’ll be able to go forward with this work on submarines,” the official told reporters.

Australia’s departing US ambassador Arthur Sinodinos told News Corp last week that a move in 2017 to include Australia in the American national technology and industrial base had not prevented lengthy delays in sharing defence capabilities because of the strict US export control system.

Late last year, four former US ambassadors to Australia blasted their country’s “absurd” technology-sharing regulations, warning they were “the most significant obstacle” to winning the strategic competition with China, while putting national security at risk and handing an advantage to America’s enemies.

Originally published as US Congress moves on ‘absurd’ technology-sharing regulations weakening AUKUS pact