US President Donald Trump has put the future of AUKUS into doubt after questioning whether a deal which pays America almost $350 billion for a promise to turn a hypothetical idea into a conceptual hypothesis that theoretically may or may not eventuate at some speculative point in the imaginary future, is beneficial to America.
Australians looking at the contract, which contains more terms, conditions and exclusions than a 50% off sale at Harvey Norman, determined that the deal was, “definitely, absolutely and categorically America First”.
“The deal requires Australia to pay the US more than the three times our annual healthcare budget, but includes get-out causes for the US that allows it to prioritise its own defence needs, or withdraw from the contract with just a year’s notice if it decides it ‘does not meet their military requirements’.
“I think we can safely say this has America’s interests, and only America’s interests at heart,” one Australian observer said.
She noted that the Australian Government had paid the US almost $800 million earlier this year as a down payment on their big nothing delivery.
Analysts argue that the benefits of AUKUS to the US go beyond just financial, saying that military pacts will be increasingly important for the US as they start new wars with rouge states such as California.
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Headline by Matt Harvey
