The United States has recommitted to the AUKUS nuclear submarine pact after a secret internal review, and will even strengthen the pact after Australian ministers held talks with Trump officials.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles met their US counterparts Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth in Washington DC overnight for an annual meeting focusing on Indo-Pacific security.
In remarks made before the AUSMIN talks, both nations reiterated the $368 billion AUKUS pact was moving "full steam ahead" – a comment also made by US President Donald Trump after he met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in October.