The Pentagon is reviewing the trilateral agreement, putting the future of Australia’s submarine fleet in question.
“The department is reviewing AUKUS as part of ensuring that this initiative of the previous administration is aligned with the President’s America First agenda,” a US defence official confirmed to 9News.
He said the review continued a trend of senior US figures concluding that the US did not have the capacity to deal with global problems.
“It’s a very short-sighted view for many reasons, the least of which is if you have capacity problems in military procurement, increase your capacity,” he said.
“That’s in part what AUKUS is going to do. And to say, well, we’ve got to build our own submarines and therefore we can’t build submarines for Australia, is incredibly shortsighted.”
Australia has already paid its first $500 million instalment on the submarine agreement.
The staggering sums countries spend on defending themselves
The AUKUS pact has generally enjoyed bipartisan support in the US and Australia, though critics have questioned the value of the submarine fleet for Australia, especially given the 2030s deadline.
The revelation of the review will add to the pressure on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese when he attends the G7 meeting in Canada this week.
