Political Futures: Adjusting to President Trump’s Global Command Outreach

Having sparked a new accord with Prime Minister Albanese, President Trump is off to spread his partisan news off to Asia with visits to Malaysia for the ASEAN Summit, a whistle stop visit to loyal LNP Prime Minister Takaichi in Japan and then the APEC Summit in Gyeongju in South Korea between 30 October and 1 November 2025.

The MAGA Command economy has become a high stakes political game for supportive middle powers like Japan and South Korea. These nations are under immense pressure to commit to massive investments in U.S. factories and infrastructure (as much as $900 billion combined, according to reports) to “lower tariffs and avoid Trump’s wrath.”

Australia too, has offered the rare earth’s deal at the White House meeting plus an incident with a Chinese fighter jet in the South China Sea on the eve of a well-choreographed meeting with President Trump on 20 October 2025.

The mainstream media claimed that the aircraft incident occurred in international airspace and not adjacent to the island of Xisha Quandao known internationally as the Paracel islands. The Xisha Islands is a cluster of forty islets, sandbanks and reefs, owning splendid natural scenery. Located in the central South China Sea, the Xisha Islands form a spectacular archipelago of over forty reefs and islands, known for their unspoiled ecosystems and strategic importance. With coral reefs covering more than 50% of the seabed and the world’s deepest marine blue hole – Yongle Dragon Hole – this tropical paradise supports hundreds of marine species and vast seabird populations (Map Image: Peace Palace Library):

Contested Territorial Claims in the South China Sea Involving Six Regional Nations

Elected in 2022 with a narrow majority, the Albanese Government had few options about the future of AUKUS arrangements with the USA and Britain which arrived with the internal coup within the federal LNP against Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on 24 August 2018. Soon, Scott Morrison was an invited observer at the G7 Summit in Cornwall on 21 June 2021 but failed to mention the foreshadowed abandonment of the submarine contract with France to President Macron over dinner in Paris on 15 June 2021 (Image from the Beach Summit from Blighter with Wikipedia Graphics):

The Joint Statement from LNP Leaders in the Morrison Government came on 16 September 2021:

Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have agreed to the creation of an enhanced trilateral security partnership – AUKUS.

The security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region have grown significantly. Military modernisation is occurring at an unprecedented rate and capabilities are rapidly advancing and their reach expanding. The technological edge enjoyed by Australia and our partners is narrowing.

AUKUS will build on the three nations’ longstanding and ongoing bilateral ties and will enable the partners to significantly deepen cooperation on a range of emerging security and defence capabilities, which will enhance joint capability and interoperability. Initial efforts under AUKUS will focus on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and additional undersea capabilities.

This is an historic opportunity for the three nations, with like-minded allies and partners, to protect shared values and promote security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

AUKUS will complement Australia’s network of strategic partnerships, including with our ASEAN friends, our Pacific family, our Five Eyes partners, the Quad and other like-minded partners.

First initiative under AUKUS

The first initiative under AUKUS is for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarine technology, leveraging decades of experience from the US and UK.

Under AUKUS, the three nations will focus immediately on identifying the optimal pathway to deliver at least eight nuclear-powered submarines for Australia.

Key Architects of AUKUS

(Barnaby Joyce was not included in the Media Press Release)

Unscrambling these arrangements would have been difficult for the incoming Albanese Government which stayed firmly with the LNP’s arrangements to avoid a khaki-styled election which had produced a landslide victory to the LNP in November 1966 when the divisive issue was commitment to the War in Vietnam.

In the Weekend Inquirer (25-26 October 2025 – paywalled) veteran journalist Paul Kelly offers grudging support for the well-choreograph encounter between President Trump and PM Albanese on 20 October 2025:

Trump’s endorsement this week of Albanese as a leader and of his agenda may eventually be seen as one of the most significant exchanges between an Australian and an American leader in the history of the alliance. It opens the door to potentially transforming opportunities.

The challenge is whether Labor can deliver on the nuclear-powered submarines and the critical minerals agenda. Here are the harsh truths: more of the same won’t cut it. The Albanese government will need to lift its game and address the costs, the manpower, the infrastructure and the politics that flow from this week’s success.

The current defence budget trajectory is hopelessly inadequate. Our industrial and nuclear personnel programs are underdone. There is concern the facilities in Western Australia – at HMAS Stirling and the Henderson hub – are not being developed fast enough. The long-run critical minerals and rare earths agenda looks optimistic and deliverable only by smashing through the delays and regulations that beset Labor’s approach to resources development.

For an LNP Opposition which rails against too much federal government spending, the commitment of billions to the coffers of corporate global military industrial is a touch ironic (List of the Corporate Beneficiaries from the Robots at Google Bard):

United Kingdom Companies

• BAE Systems:
  • Leads the design of the next-generation SSN-AUKUS submarine, building on the UK’s Astute-class submarine experience.
  • Involved in the build strategy and industrial capability development.
• Rolls-Royce:
  • Responsible for manufacturing the nuclear reactors that will power the SSN-AUKUS submarines in Australia, supported by significant Australian investment into their Derby facility.
• Babcock International:
  • Involved in the submarine design and build partnership, bringing expertise in nuclear submarine industrial capability.

Australian Companies

• ASC Pty Ltd (ASC):
  • The primary Australian submarine sustainment company.
  • Will be involved in the sustainment and maintenance of visiting US and UK nuclear-powered submarines at HMAS Stirling (Submarine Rotational Force-West) from 2027.
  • Australian workers from ASC are being embedded in US shipyards for training.
• Australian Defence Industry/Supply Chain:
  • Numerous small to medium-sized Australian companies are expected to benefit from contracts for the local build and sustainment of the submarines at the Osborne shipyard in South Australia and the naval maintenance hub at Henderson, Western Australia.
• Critical Minerals and Rare Earths Companies (Related to AUKUS Supply Chains):
  • Companies involved in projects like the Alcoa-Sojitz Gallium Recovery Initiative and the Arafura Nolans Rare Earth Project are being supported by a US-Australia critical minerals deal, which directly supports the materials required for advanced defence systems under AUKUS.

US Companies

• General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB):
  • Expected to be a primary US partner involved in the design, construction, and potentially the transfer of US submarine technology for the SSN-AUKUS program.
• Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII):
  • A major US defence contractor involved in submarine construction and maintenance, expected to benefit from expanding US shipbuilding capacity with Australian financial support.
• Various US Defence/Tech Companies:
  • Companies specialising in advanced capabilities like Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy, Quantum Technologies, Hypersonics, and Electronic Warfare are anticipated to gain contracts under the Pillar 2 initiatives. For example, private sector participation is key to the advanced capabilities development.

The Albanese Government js now here for the long-haul as the preferred political party capable of delivering good economic management with commitment to strategic security.  The Labor two party-preferred vote might indeed be touching 60 percent after preference allocations when the next Newspoll is released. More conventional journalists stick too much with White House Press releases and intel gossip.

This leaves our Australian future is very opaque state as President Trump trips off on his whistle stop tours to those three Asian countries (The White House Press Release with US Spelling Conventions 20 October 2025):

DEEPENING DEFENSE COOPERATION: Australia committed to enhanced burden sharing and is making new defense investments that will bolster the U.S.-Australia alliance.

• Australia agreed to purchase $1.2 billion in Anduril unmanned underwater vehicles and take delivery of the first tranche of Apache helicopters in a separate $2.6 billion deal.
• Since February, Australia has contributed $1 billion to the U.S. Government to expand and modernize the U.S. submarine industrial base, with another $1 billion by the end of the year. Together, we are strengthening the Australia – United Kingdom – United States (AUKUS) trilateral security partnership to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
• Australia is investing significantly in its integrated air and missile defense capabilities, including $2 billion in U.S. companies, for its Joint Air Battle Management System.
• The U.S.-Australia alliance is securing munitions supply-chain resilience under Australia’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) enterprise, and building on streamlined export cooperation, which will directly support more than two hundred manufacturing suppliers in Texas, Florida, Arkansas, and Alabama.

PROMOTING ECONOMIC PROSPERITY AND TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION: The United States and Australia are forging a historic partnership to drive innovation, economic growth, and technological leadership through strategic investments and collaborative initiatives.

• Australia’s superannuation funds will increase investments in the United States to $1.44 trillion by 2035 – an increase of almost $1 trillion from current levels.
  • This unprecedented investment will create tens of thousands of new, high-paying jobs for Americans.
• The United States recently secured expanded access for U.S. beef in Australia and is committed to opening new markets for U.S. ranchers.
• NASA and the Australian Space Agency signed a framework agreement to strengthen civil space and aeronautics cooperation. NASA’s Artemis program, which will return astronauts to the Moon, will be joined by a technology development lunar rover from Australia.
• The United States and Australia agreed to develop and launch a bilateral Technology Prosperity Deal to establish joint initiatives to cooperate and invest in AI, quantum, and other critical technologies.

Denis Bright (pictured) is a financial member of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Denis is committed to consensus-building on the critical issues raised in each article. Your comments on this and related articles can be recorded on theaimn.net site.

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