{"id":645522,"date":"2026-05-02T20:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T20:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/645522\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T20:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T20:00:14","slug":"diplomatic-masterstroke-under-donald-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/645522\/","title":{"rendered":"Diplomatic masterstroke under Donald Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MichaelSave<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

King Charles III charmed his way through Washington during the week with a mix of royal air, humour and good old-fashioned English charm.<\/p>\n

In a town that has grown accustomed to Donald Trump\u2019s unfiltered monologues, obsequious odes from his underlings and awkward Oval Office appearances by foreign leaders, the King\u2019s visit was a breath of fresh air<\/a> widely regarded as a diplomatic masterstroke<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe King\u2019s tour of Washington was widely regarded as a diplomatic masterstroke.AP<\/p>\n

Political scientist and Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer called it \u201cthe most deft diplomacy \u2013 by a long margin \u2013 that we\u2019ve seen visiting the Trump administration this term\u201d.<\/p>\n

The gesture that won the highest praise was Charles\u2019 personal gift to Trump, presented during the White House state dinner<\/a> on Tuesday night \u2013 the bell from the HMS Trump, a British-made submarine that launched during World War II and spent most of its life as part of an Australian squadron.<\/p>\n

Charles described the vessel as an \u201cAUKUS predecessor\u201d, repeating his enthusiasm for the trilateral pact between Australia, the US and UK. In so doing, he put Australia at the centre of arguably his warmest moment with Trump.<\/p>\n

For AUKUS proponents, it was manna from heaven \u2013 and that was exactly as the King intended it.<\/p>\n

Sophia Gaston, a foreign policy researcher and geopolitical analyst at King\u2019s College London, who is deeply involved in AUKUS, said the existence of the HMS Trump \u2013 and how to capitalise on it \u2013 had been a \u201cconstant theme of discussion\u201d since the president returned to office.<\/p>\n

Some people in the AUKUS community had even mused whether the SSN-AUKUS \u2013 the next-generation nuclear-powered submarine Australia and Britain will build together \u2013 should be renamed the SSN-Trump, she told this masthead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a generational project, so it was ultimately thought it would be best to retain a more neutral name. But there was definitely a strong feeling that we needed to find a way of eliciting the president\u2019s personal buy-in for the AUKUS endeavour, and to underscore the deep links between the allied naval forces, and so every effort was then made to find a tangible souvenir from the HMS Trump to achieve both goals in this historic moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The King\u2019s nod to AUKUS was noted by its champions in Congress, too, such as Republican Robert Aderholt of Alabama, who said he appreciated the shout-out.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe King\u2019s tour continued at a street festival in Virginia.AP\"CharlesCharles presented Trump with the original bell from HMS Trump, a British-built World War II-era submarine.AP<\/p>\n

It was an important week for Australia\u2019s relationship with the Trump administration, involving what might best be described as a mixed bag of developments.<\/p>\n

Trump finally nominated a new US ambassador<\/a> to Canberra, 15 months into his term. He selected David Brat, a former Republican congressman from Virginia, now a senior executive at a Christian university. He is also an economics professor and deeply religious theological scholar.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"King<\/a><\/p>\n

Brat was part of the pre-Trump Tea Party movement of conservative Republicans, and ousted the then House of Representatives majority leader, Eric Cantor, in a surprise primary victory in 2014.<\/p>\n

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said Brat was a champion for Trump\u2019s America First policies, and the right choice to serve US interests in Canberra.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States looks forward to strengthening our long-standing partnership with Australia through economic investments, defence co-operation, critical minerals and more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Charles Edel, the Australia chair at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said Brat\u2019s closeness to Trump\u2019s way of thinking made him well-placed to steer an important relationship.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Prime<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking directly to decision-makers in Washington and accurately conveying the administration\u2019s positions are two of the most important attributes an ambassador can possess,\u201d Edel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy every indication in the public record, Brat shares the president\u2019s policy views, and hails from the right-wing of the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile his views on defence issues, AUKUS and critical minerals are less clear, if he is confirmed, it\u2019s a safe bet that he will accurately reflect the White House position on those issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brat will also need to navigate the trade relationship between Australia and the US, including the Albanese government\u2019s opposition to Trump\u2019s tariffs, and its determination to proceed with several initiatives that anger this administration \u2013 particularly on technology.<\/p>\n

One such matter resurfaced last week when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recommitted to the News Bargaining Incentive<\/a> to tax social media giants for their use of Australian journalism. The policy applies a 2.25 per cent levy to the Australian revenue of Meta, Google, TikTok and others, but that figure can be reduced \u2013 likely to about 1.5 per cent, Albanese said \u2013 if the companies strike deals with local media companies.<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Albanese recommitted to the News Bargaining Incentive despite the Trump administration\u2019s opposition.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has condemned this policy before, and it is on the radar of the US trade office<\/a>. Asked for comment, White House spokesman Kush Desai said Trump would defend America\u2019s world-leading technology sector from digital services taxes and \u201cother forms of foreign extortion\u201d.<\/p>\n

Albanese is sticking to his guns. \u201cWe\u2019re a sovereign nation,\u201d he said on Tuesday when asked about Trump\u2019s opposition. He has previously identified this issue as one that is not up for negotiation.<\/p>\n

David Inserra, a tech policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, said the administration had shown it was willing to make use of various trade tools at its disposal to punish countries that implemented these taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could see a place where this does get brought up in broader trade disputes saying, \u2018You are unfairly going after our industry to favour your local media industry\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And just a week after Canberra announced plans to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of gross domestic product by 2033, the Pentagon issued a gentle reminder that it still believed Australia had a way to go<\/a> before it was considered to be pulling its weight.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the US Congress, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said South Korea \u2013 which has committed to spending 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence by 2035 \u2013 was America\u2019s \u201cmodel ally\u201d in the Indo-Pacific. Hegseth said Australia understood the need to keep lifting its defence spending.<\/p>\n

The paragraph illustrated that while Trump wavered when asked about this subject during Albanese\u2019s visit to Washington last year, the Pentagon has not abandoned its push. Its policy boss, undersecretary Elbridge Colby, made clear on social media that this was still core business.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur NATO and Asian allies must do more to meet President Trump\u2019s global standard of spending 5 per cent of GDP on defence \u2013 3.5 per cent on core military spending and 1.5 per cent on security-related investments,\u201d he said on X on Friday (US time).<\/p>\n

\"USUS Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at a congressional hearing.AP<\/p>\n

Hegseth, at the hearing, appeared sceptical that some US allies would act on their pledges, without naming any.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt remains to be seen whether some of our allies actually step up to their commitments,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that is the hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what\u2019s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Koziol<\/a> is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-645522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}