Donald Trump should publicly state his position on the future of AUKUS

US president-elect Donald Trump.Picture: AFP

Donald Trump should make his position clear on the landmark AUKUS agreement and telegraph his expectations of Australia under the security partner­ship. And he should do this soon.

AUKUS is about military deterrence against China in the key region of strategic importance to the US – the Indo-­Pacific – and has the backing of Republicans and Democrats in congress.

But Trump appears to be the missing piece of the puzzle.

He is breaking all the rules by talking about acquiring Greenland in a key challenge to Denmark, reclaiming the Panama Canal and campaigning for Canada to become the 51st state.

These actions must raise questions about his attitude towards Australia and the future of the AUKUS partnership.

While Anthony Albanese raised the agreement with Trump in their call following the US election, it is not obvious what plans the incoming president has in store for the AUKUS framework.

He may be an enthusiastic supporter, push for some form of renegotiation or perhaps want greater defending spending from Canberra.

Yet instead of making his expectations clear to allies and partners, the president-elect this week shocked the world by sketching out his plans for US territorial expansion.

Trump reserved the option of using the military to seize control of Greenland, a Danish territory, and retake the Panama Canal while also threatening Canada with economic coercion in his quest for it to become the 51st state.

This does not help the Albanese government.

It will most likely serve as fuel for critics of the AUKUS agreement at home – including those within Labor – who say it will only lock Australia in to a radical world view under a second Trump administration.

Comments on the strategic importance of the agreement from the Democratic co-chair of the congressional AUKUS Working Group, Joe Courtney, and the Republican chairman emeritus of the house foreign affairs committee, Michael McCaul, reveal the deep wellspring of support for the security partnership in the US.

This is welcome. Courtney says Australia is pumping $3bn into the US submarine industrial base and more than 100 ­Australians have already graduated from nuclear submarine schools in South Carolina and in Connecticut.

In addition, for the first time, the USS Hawaii had an Aus­tralian officer at the helm when it arrived in Perth in 2024.

McCaul makes clear that AUKUS is a vehicle for the military deterrence of China, arguing that it “keeps Chairman Xi (Jinping) up at night” and served as a “prime example of how we should be partnering with and trusting our allies”.

This shows the mechanisms are already in place for AUKUS to deliver and evolve over time.

Yet its evolution would be well served if Trump were to reveal his position on the future of the agreement.

It remains within his power to elevate its strategic profile and meaning within the wider region.

By contrast, Trump’s hope to establish a sphere of influence stretching from north to Central America by incorporating other nations and territories has already been dismissed as a fantasy by Panama, Canada, Greenland, Denmark and various leaders across Europe.