KANANASKIS, Alberta — Keir Starmer is confident the £176 billion AUKUS submarine pact will still go ahead despite a Donald Trump review of the trilateral nuclear program.
Starmer told journalists en route to the June 15-17 G7 summit in Canada that “it’s not unusual for an incoming government to do a review” despite fears in the U.K. and Australia that the U.S. president could torpedo the deal.
AUKUS, first agreed in 2021 under Joe Biden’s presidency, would see the U.S. provide technology for Britain and Australia to build nuclear submarines.
It was confirmed last week that Elbridge Colby, Trump’s undersecretary for defense policy, was leading a review into the program.
While Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly supports AUKUS, some in Trump’s administration believe America does not have the industrial capacity to do the deal in its current form.
When asked if he was confident Trump would greenlight the program, Starmer said: “I think so. It’s a really important project. So I don’t have any doubt that this will progress.”
He added: “We’re fully committed to it. It’s not unusual for an incoming government to do a review of a project like that.
“We, of course, looked into the issue when we came into government, we got Stephen [Lovegrove, former national security adviser] to look at it, and they’re doing their own review.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, attending the G7 as a guest leader, said he would meet with Trump on the sidelines of the Canadian summit to discuss AUKUS.
Starmer is also expected to speak with Albanese and Trump about the deal.
Stefan Boscia reported from Kananaskis. Eliza Gkritsi reported from Brussels.
The post UK confident Trump will back AUKUS appeared first on Politico.
