crs_reports: R48875

Congressional Research Service reports with summaries, authors, and topic classifications.

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R48875 U.S.-Australia Relations: Background and Issues for Congress 2026-02-27T05:00:00Z 2026-03-06T13:23:01Z Active Reports Jared G. Tupuola   The Commonwealth of Australia is a long-standing diplomatic, economic, and security partner of the United States with joint military cooperation dating back as early as World War I. Throughout the 20th century, U.S.-Australian relations advanced with Australia becoming a major non-NATO U.S. ally through the Australia, New Zealand, United States (ANZUS) alliance of 1951. In the past decade, Australia has grown increasingly aligned with the United States over shared concerns of a militarily and economically capable People’s Republic of China (PRC, or China). The U.S.-Australia defense partnership is multi-faceted and includes bilateral and multilateral engagement to advance what the United States and its allies refer to as a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. In 2021, the allies adopted a new element of U.S.-Australia defense cooperation with the Australia-United Kingdom-United States partnership, or AUKUS. Under AUKUS, the United States and the United Kingdom (UK) are to help procure nuclear-powered propulsion technology for Australia and cooperatively develop advanced defense capabilities. Other shared foreign policy and security initiatives include the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) with India and Japan, and the Five Eyes Intelligence Grouping with Canada, the UK, and New Zealand. Since re-assuming office for his second term in January 2025, President Donald Trump has pursued foreign policies that have strained U.S.-Australian bilateral relations, particularly the imposition of tariffs on Australia as part of U.S. global tariffs despite having a bilateral free trade agreement (which entered into force in 2005), and having a trade surplus with Australia. In June 2025, the Trump Administration announced it would conduct a review of AUKUS to ensure that the partnership aligns with an “America First foreign policy.” While the Australian government has expressed confidence in the U.S. commitment to AUKUS, there are rising voices in Australia calling into question U.S. reliability as a security partner and advocating for greater strategic autonomy. In Australia, the Labor government under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was re-elected in May 2025 in a landslide victory. Prime Minister Albanese faces several major issues that were accentuated during his campaign, such as the high-cost of living and housing prices for Australians as well as foreign policy and environmental sustainability concerns. Domestic economic concerns around U.S. tariffs and the Labor Party’s climate priorities may put the United States and Australia at odds over some issues, while shared geopolitical perspectives on China’s rising influence in the Indo-Pacific, particularly the Pacific Islands, and supply-chain security, may foster continued and expanded collaboration. Congressional interest in shaping the U.S.-Australia bilateral relationship has been instrumental in advancing key developments in the U.S.-Australia alliance. Some Members have introduced legislation and resolutions and otherwise advocated for policies that advance U.S.-Australia bilateral cooperation, including through Congressional Member Organizations, such the Friends of Australia Caucus and the AUKUS Working Group. In the 119th Congress, Members may consider issues related to authorizing or overseeing AUKUS and related military technology transfers, supporting alliance commitments, funding and supporting strategic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, and setting and overseeing policies related to trade, tariffs, and economic security. Relatedly, Congress may consider how the Trump Administration’s policies impact broader U.S.-Australia relations. https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R48875/R48875.1.pdf https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/HTML/R48875.html

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