By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Increasing the number of nuclear powered submarines operated by Australia, Britain and the United States will make the Indo Pacific more secure and was in the United States’ interests, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday.
Albanese will meet U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time on Tuesday in Calgary on the sidelines of the G7 meeting, with tariffs and Washington’s snap review of the AUKUS treaty to transfer nuclear submarines to Australia weighing on the talks.
“Having Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States all having increased nuclear-powered submarines, in our case conventionally armed, is something that will make the Indo Pacific area more secure,” Albanese told reporters in Calgary.
“That is in the interests of the United States,” he added.
Albanese said he will highlight to Trump the financial support Australia is providing to the U.S. industrial capacity to build new submarines under AUKUS, the access the U.S. submarine fleet will gain to maintenance yards in Australia, and the existing U.S. military presence in Australia’s northern city of Darwin.
Australia was a trusted U.S. partner in the Pacific region to promote peace and security, he said.
Albanese has rebuffed a U.S. request to commit to lifting defence spending from 2% to 3.5% of gross domestic product, saying instead Australia would spend what was needed for its defence capability.
Around 10% of Australia’s steel and aluminium is exported to the United States, and Albanese said he would also raise the issue of Trump’s tariffs on the sector, which Australia views as “acts of economic self harm”.
“Exports are still going in there, they are just paying more for them,” he told reporters.
Albanese met with Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday, and said they had discussed Canada’s interest in joining AUKUS’s so-called Pillar Two to develop advanced defence technology.
Australia wants to increase its defence relationships, including with Canada which was a long-term ally with shared values, Albanese said.
“In an uncertain world what people are looking for is certainty, relationships, trusted relationships, Australia and Canada are just such partners,” he said.
Albanese will also hold talks with the EU on a proposed defence pact, and seek progress on EU free trade talks.
An annual poll by the Lowy Institute think-tank released on Monday showed falling public sentiment in Australia towards the United States, with 36 per cent of people surveyed saying they trust the United States to act responsibly, a 20-point drop since last year. The poll showed two-thirds of respondents supported AUKUS.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney)
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