Donald Trump’s top diplomat Marco Rubio offers full backing for AUKUS defence pact
Amid mounting uncertainty on the fate of the AUKUS pact under Donald Trump, his choice to be America’s Secretary of State has revealed whether the administration will support it.
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The AUKUS defence pact will have the “very strong support” of Donald Trump’s new administration, his top diplomat has declared in a vote of confidence that will reassure the Australian government ahead of the President-elect’s inauguration.
Marco Rubio, Mr Trump’s nominee to be America’s Secretary of State, hailed the deal with Australia and the UK as a blueprint for the US to expand co-operation with its allies and a crucial plank in efforts to deter China’s increasing military aggression in the Indo-Pacific.
The fate of AUKUS – particularly Australia’s deal to buy at least three nuclear-powered submarines from the US in the early 2030s – has been under a cloud since Mr Trump’s election victory, given he has not publicly declared his position on the pact.
But in Senator Rubio’s confirmation hearing to take on the diplomatic post, he said AUKUS was “something that I think you’re going to find very strong support for in this administration”.
“It’s almost a blueprint in many ways of how we can create consortium-like partnerships with nation-states that are allied to us to confront some of these global challenges,” he said, referencing co-operation on defence, critical minerals, and technology including artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
“It’s one example of how we can leverage the power of these partnerships with allies … to reach outcomes and objectives such as creating a geopolitical and strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.”
Australia’s ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd thanked Senator Rubio for his “great support for AUKUS”, saying he was “looking forward to working with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the incoming Trump administration across the full range of our foreign policy and national security challenges”.
Senator Rubio declared the Chinese Communist Party represented the “most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted”.
“It’s an extraordinary challenge – it’s one I believe will define the 21st century,” he said.
He also promised to share more sensitive defence technologies with Australia through AUKUS, as he agreed with the concerns of Senate Foreign Relations committee chair Jim Risch who said the Biden administration had been “really difficult to work with”.
“In the case of our strong close allies, that’s the point, right? You want to be able to find yourself in a situation where you can accelerate partnerships by making available to key allies these sensitive technologies,” Senator Rubio said.
The Florida senator is expected to be smoothly confirmed, unlike Pete Hegseth, Mr Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon who was grilled in his hearing over allegations of mistreating women and problems with alcohol, as well as his controversial views on women in combat.
AUKUS was only briefly mentioned in his confirmation hearing, when he referenced US allies “in AUKUS with Australia” while struggling to name any members of ASEAN.
In Mr Hegseth’s written answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee, however, he described working with “our partners and allies to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific from the communist Chinese” as one of his top priorities if he was confirmed.
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Originally published as Donald Trump’s top diplomat Marco Rubio offers full backing for AUKUS defence pact