Marles said the three AUKUS nations were forging ahead with the partnership even as the Trump administration reviews the pact.
“A new government undertaking a review is the most natural thing in the world,” he said. “We welcome the review which is being undertaken by the Trump administration.”
Trump’s approach to AUKUS is in doubt while the Pentagon conducts a review led by Department of Defence under-secretary Elbridge Colby, a critic of the agreement. There is no formal deadline for the review.
Announcing the treaty in London, the UK government said the outcome would be worth up to £20 billion for the UK – about $41 billion – in terms of exports over 25 years. It said this would create more than 7000 jobs in British shipyards.
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While the UK statement did not specify the payments from Australia, the transfer of technology is a fundamental part of AUKUS because it assumes the nuclear power plants would come from the UK.
The Australian and UK governments have already made joint investments in the nuclear power systems made by Rolls-Royce for the Royal Navy, part of a $4 billion spending promise from Australia to help the UK.
The nuclear power plants depend on long-term defence sharing with the US under agreements dating to 1958, making Trump’s support a pivotal factor for the AUKUS plan.
Healey emphasised that AUKUS strengthened global security and was one of the UK’s most important defence deals.
“This historic treaty confirms our AUKUS commitment for the next half century,” he said. “Through the treaty, we are supporting high-skilled, well-paid jobs for tens of thousands of people in both the UK and Australia.”
Lammy said the UK and Australia relationship was “like no other” and had a real impact on global peace.
“Our new bilateral AUKUS treaty is an embodiment of that – safeguarding a free and open Indo-Pacific whilst catalysing growth for both our countries,” he said.
Lammy’s mention of the Indo-Pacific highlights a contested aspect of the three-way AUKUS agreement, given reports that Colby has questioned why the UK has sent an aircraft carrier to the Pacific.
When a British defence team met Colby and others in the US capital last month, according to the report, he told them they should turn back an aircraft carrier they had sent east.
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“He was basically saying, ‘You have no business being in the Indo-Pacific’,” one unnamed official told Politico.
The special adviser on AUKUS to the UK government, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, said earlier this month that he believed the US Navy was “completely committed” to the pact despite fears the Pentagon would rethink the plan.
Colby and other AUKUS sceptics in the Trump administration have argued that the UK should focus on the Atlantic and leave security in the Indo-Pacific to the US, while top British officials have emphasised that security threats are now global.
More than 40,000 military personnel from 19 countries are in and near Australia for the Talisman Sabre exercise, which runs from July 13 to August 4. The UK has deployed 3000 of those personnel.
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