Australia hopes the U.S. will move forward with the Biden administration’s submarine agreement after its review

On Thursday, Australia‘s Defence Minister Richard Marles expressed his confidence that the AUKUS submarine agreement with the U.S. and Britain would move forward, stating that his government would collaborate closely with the U.S. during the formal review conducted by the Trump administration.

In 2023, Australia pledged to invest A$368 billion ($239 billion) over thirty years in AUKUS, marking the nation’s largest defence initiative with the United States and Britain to develop and acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

A Pentagon representative indicated that the administration was assessing AUKUS to ensure it aligns with the President’s America First policy, just before anticipated discussions between President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Pentagon launches review of US-UK-Australia Aukus security alliance that will stop #AUKUS . Australians should know that Labor PM Albanese signed over $368b for Subs with no clawback clause.
This means.
Trump gets the money while we get no Submarines.
We are led by Idiots .. pic.twitter.com/qrXfloHjQP

— Step and fetch @fetchstep.bsky.social (@FetchStep) June 12, 2025

In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Marles noted that AUKUS serves the strategic interests of all three nations and that the new review of the agreement established in 2021 under President Joe Biden was expected. “I am very confident this is going to happen,” he remarked regarding AUKUS, which would provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. “This is a multi-decade plan. There will be governments that come and go, and I believe that whenever a new government is in place, a review of this nature will be conducted,” Marles stated during the ABC interview.

Albanese is anticipated to meet Trump for the first time next week during the G7 meeting in Canada, where security allies will deliberate on a request from Washington for Australia to raise its defence spending from 2% to 3.5% of its gross domestic product. Albanese has indicated that defence spending would increase to 2.3% but has refrained from committing to the U.S. target. On Thursday, the opposition Liberal party urged Albanese to enhance defence spending.

Under AUKUS, Australia was set to make a $2 billion payment in 2025 to the U.S. to assist in bolstering its submarine shipyards and accelerating the lagging production rates of Virginia-class submarines, facilitating the sale of up to three U.S. submarines to Australia starting in 2032. The initial $500 million payment was made when Marles met with his U.S. counterpart Pete Hegseth in February.

The Pentagon’s leading policy adviser, Elbridge Colby, who has previously voiced concerns about the U.S. potentially losing submarines to Australia at a crucial time for military deterrence against China, will play a significant role in the review, assessing the production rate of Virginia-class submarines, according to Marles.

“It is crucial that those production and sustainment rates are enhanced,” he remarked. AUKUS is expected to expand the U.S. and Australian defence industries and create thousands of manufacturing jobs, Marles stated in a press release.

John Lee, an Australian Indo-Pacific specialist at Washington’s conservative Hudson Institute think tank, remarked that the Pentagon review was “primarily an audit of American capability” and whether it can afford to sell up to five nuclear-powered submarines while failing to meet its own production targets.

“In relation to this, Lee mentioned that Australia’s low defence spending and the uncertainty regarding its role in a Taiwan contingency are contributing factors. John Hamre, president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a former senior Pentagon official, stated during a Lowy Institute seminar in Sydney on Thursday that there is a belief in Washington that ‘the Albanese government has been supportive of AUKUS but not fully committed to it,’ with defence spending being a significant aspect of this.

According to the multi-stage agreement, four U.S.-commanded Virginia submarines are set to be stationed at a Western Australian navy base on the Indian Ocean starting in 2027, which a senior U.S. Navy commander informed Congress in April provides the U.S. with a ‘direct route to the South China Sea.’ Albanese aims to acquire three Virginia submarines from 2032 to ensure that Australia’s submarine force is under its own command.

Additionally, Britain and Australia will collaborate to construct a new AUKUS-class submarine, anticipated to enter service by 2040. Following a recent defence review, Britain announced plans to increase its spending on the attack submarine fleet as part of AUKUS.

Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who negotiated the AUKUS agreement with Biden, remarked on Thursday that Australia should ‘reassert its case’ for the treaty. AUKUS aims to enhance submarine production among the three partners and is ‘primarily focused on reinforcing collective deterrence, especially in the Indo-Pacific against potential threats,’ he noted on LinkedIn.