Australia and President Trump: Four Risks and Twelve Opportunities

Ask any American foreign policy official to list the strongest U.S. alliances and Australia will be at or near the very top. Looking back at history and into the future, there are good reasons for this: Australia has fought alongside American troops in every major U.S. conflict since World War I. And today Washington is newly focused on Asia, Australia’s neighborhood. The United States seeks like-minded partners to maintain a balance of power and bolster existing rules across the Indo-Pacific region. It also benefits from longstanding allies who combine the will and capacity to join American military efforts and deter threats from emerging.

As in much of the world, Donald Trump’s electoral victory took Australians by surprise and occasioned unusual reappraisal of the alliance and Australia’s place in a Trump-led world. With questions hanging over the Trump administration’s approach to the Indo-Pacific region, alliances in general, and Australia in particular, Australians are asking what to expect in their close ties with America.

Read the full article at War on the Rocks.