AUKUS agreement to get ‘strong support’ in Trump administration, Marco Rubio says

Incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio used his confirmation hearing to say the trilateral agreement could secure ‘a better strategic outlook’ for its partners in the Pacific.

US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, during his Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing. Picture: Getty Images

Incoming Secretary of State for Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, Marco Rubio, says that the AUKUS agreement is “something that you’re going to find very strong support for in this administration”.

Speaking at his confirmation hearing, the Florida Senator said he wanted to remove impediments to the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States and use it to achieve a better and more balanced strategic outlook in the Pacific region.

He argued that AUKUS was the model for US engagement with its allies. He said it was “almost a blueprint in many ways of consortium-like partnership with nation states that are allied to us to confront some of these global challenges”.

Senator Rubio noted that the agreement relied heavily on the Department of Defence, but clarified that AUKUS could help America and its partners in the realms of defence, critical minerals as well as sensitive technologies including artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Senator Rubio during the confirmation hearing. Picture: AFP

Republican Senator Jim Risch – chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee – said that there “hasn’t been much discussion about AUKUS really since the thing started”.

“A lot of us have been pressing the administration to gear that up. It has not been forthcoming,” he said.

He asked Senator Rubio for his thoughts on the trilateral security partnership, its importance and the need for “getting this thing moving”.

Senator Rubio said that it was “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 Pacific region and beyond,” he said.

“So we’ll have to look at that and see what components of whatever impediments exist can be removed by the actions of the Department of State.”

Senator Rubio also made clear that, to maximise the potential of partnerships like AUKUS, it would require a whole of government effort from the United States.

“Very few of these global issues are entirely reliant on the Department of State,” he said. “The Department of Energy, the Department of Defence. We have a host of other government agencies – Commerce in many cases – who also play a critical role in expediting and going through for example some of the lists of technologies that perhaps are not being transferred because they’ve been deemed sensitive.”

But Senator Rubio endorsed providing access to these technologies. He said that, “in the case of our strong close allies – that’s the point”.

“You want to be able to find yourself in a situation where you can accelerate partnership by making available to key allies these sensitive technologies that we wouldn’t want to see in the hands or developed by an adversary.”

Senator Rubio also fired a warning to China, saying it had cheated its way to superpower status as it tried to undermine the “liberal world order” long cherished by the US elite.

“We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into this global order. And they took advantage of all its benefits but they ignored all its obligations and responsibilities.

“Instead, they have lied, cheated, hacked and stolen their way to global superpower status, at our expense.”

Thank you for your great support for AUKUS, @marcorubio.

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. pic.twitter.com/rla16lZa84

— Kevin Rudd AC (@AmboRudd) January 15, 2025

Australia’s ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd responded to the comments on AUKUS made by Senator Rubio by posting on the X social media platform: “Thank you for your great support for AUKUS, @marcorubio.”

“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,” Mr Rudd said.

The Democratic co-chair of the Congressional AUKUS Working Group, Joe Courtney, also said that Senator Rubio had been a “strong supporter of AUKUS, helping to enact the landmark AUKUS authorities in 2023”.

“Great to hear that he is committed to continuing advancing the mission when he takes the helm at the State Department,” Mr Courtney said.