Prime Minister and Coalition praise Biden's legacy, affirm strong US-Australia ties despite Trump concerns
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to Joe Biden, stating that the US President has acted in what he believes is the best interest of his country. The Coalition has also praised President Biden's legacy, calling him a great supporter of US-Australia ties. Both major parties affirm that the relationship will remain strong regardless of who wins in November, although there is significant nervousness about the prospect of a Trump presidency. Foreign Affairs Reporter Stephen Dziedzic has more.
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00:00Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister, has heaped praise on Mr Biden.
00:06Now he hasn't explicitly said that it's a good thing that Joe Biden has stepped down,
00:10but you do get the sense that that's what the Prime Minister is thinking.
00:13He says that Joe Biden has made a decision that he believes, the President believes,
00:17is in the national interest.
00:18And he's also really lavished praise on Joe Biden, not just for his decision to stand
00:23aside, but also for everything he's done for the US and for the Australia-US relationship.
00:28Anthony Albanese says that AUKUS couldn't have happened without Joe Biden.
00:32He also says that President Biden's achievements in clean energy with the Inflation Reduction
00:37Act and other bits of legislation passed will stand the test of time.
00:41You really do get the sense that Anthony Albanese wants to present Joe Biden as a potentially
00:46transformational President.
00:47Let's take a listen to what the Prime Minister had to say speaking earlier today.
00:52President Biden has been a great friend of Australia and that will continue and I look
00:56forward to meeting with President Biden at the G20 and at the APEC summits that will
01:03be held later this year.
01:06President Biden deserves today, I think, to be recognised for once again not putting himself
01:14forward first, but giving his first consideration to being what he believes is in the interests
01:22of the United States of America, as he has done his whole public life.
01:28And I pay tribute to him today.
01:31And Stephen, what's the Coalition's take on this?
01:34Coalition is sounding very similar to the government on this, Joe.
01:38The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has also praised Mr Biden, saying that he's got a substantial
01:43legacy and also, similar to the Prime Minister, saying that what he has done is what he believes
01:49is best for the nation.
01:50Let's take a listen to what Peter Dutton had to say speaking slightly earlier today.
01:54He has been somebody who has strengthened the relationship between our two countries.
02:01We're a small island nation of 25.8 million people and the agreement that we have with
02:06the United States is absolutely essential, not just from a trading perspective, but also
02:11for our security in a period that the Prime Minister rightly describes as the most precarious
02:16since the end of the Second World War.
02:19And Stephen, how can it be the case that both parties are saying the relationship will be
02:24in a good position no matter who wins in November, but in the same breath also saying there's
02:31great nervousness about a Trump presidency?
02:34Well, they're saying the first thing publicly and the second thing they're saying privately.
02:39That's the main gap, if you like, Joe.
02:41I mean, understandably, neither party wants to talk publicly about some of the nervousness
02:46around the prospect of a second Trump presidency with all of the enormous uncertainty that
02:51it brings.
02:52It benefits no one to do that, in the mind of those in Canberra.
02:56So that's why you get this constant line rolled out by both sides that no matter who wins
03:00in November, that the relationship will be on a strong footing.
03:03But the reality is that there will be much more uncertainty under Donald Trump than perhaps
03:08Kamala Harris or whoever the Democrats finally do pick to be their nominee come November.
03:14Now, there are a few things to look at here.
03:16The first question that most people go to is the question of the AUKUS agreement and
03:20the promise to sell Australian nuclear submarines in the future, as well as, of course, develop
03:25a standalone nuclear submarine in the future.
03:28There have been a lot of anxieties about whether Trump would perhaps dump that deal.
03:32Now we've got a couple of indications that that may not happen.
03:36Donald Trump has, according to Scott Morrison, told the former Prime Minister that he's a
03:39fan of AUKUS.
03:40J.D. Vance, the Republican's vice presidential nominee, has also said on the public record
03:47he thinks AUKUS is a good idea.
03:49But Donald Trump is a famously transactional and mercurial man, and there's no doubt that
03:54if he is the president next, then there will be some nervousness, at the very least in
03:58Canberra, about what might happen to that agreement.
04:01And there might be a bit of a push for Australia to pitch this really hard as an investment
04:06first in the US industrial base, rather than as a favour that America is doing to Australia,
04:12if they want to ensure that it survives.
04:15But it's not just AUKUS.
04:16It goes much more deeper than that.
04:17What will Donald Trump do to that vast array of alliances that the US maintains at the
04:23moment, particularly throughout Asia, with countries like Japan and South Korea?
04:28Will they survive a Trump presidency?
04:30How about Taiwan?
04:31Could the United States defend Taiwan if China did launch an invasion with Donald Trump in
04:37the White House?
04:38Donald Trump's made it clear he's got a measure of contempt for Taiwan, alleging that it's
04:42stolen the microchip business from the United States.
04:46He's saying they should pay for more protection.
04:48So all of these questions are really profound ones for Australia, and if the US does take
04:53a far more populist, reactionary or isolationist turn under Donald Trump, then it could have
04:58serious ramifications for Australia and for Australia's position in the broader Indo-Pacific.
05:04So yes, publicly everyone's saying no matter what happens, Australia's going to be in a
05:07good position.
05:08Yes, Australia's probably in a better position than some other countries in the face of a
05:13Trump presidency.
05:14Our position is probably slightly more assured.
05:17But if you look at the impact that a Trump presidency might have on that vast array of
05:21– a network of alliances that currently underpin stability in the region, there are
05:27many reasons for people in Canberra to be anxious, and unsurprisingly, many are.
05:32And what are you hearing about concerns over the economic implications of a Trump presidency
05:37for Australia?
05:38Yeah, well this is huge as well, Joe.
05:40Donald Trump has made it clear that he's going to start whacking tariffs on imports into
05:44America from day one.
05:46Now what are the implications for that, not just for inflation in the United States and
05:52for terms of trade, but for the global trading system as well as for Australia?
05:57Well, there is a great anxiety in Canberra that if Donald Trump gets his way and takes
06:00the US down this protectionist path, then that could have severe consequences not just
06:05for economic growth in the US, but also for the global economy, which is of course at
06:10this stage in the stage of a very weak recovery.
06:13So again, uncertainties upon uncertainties.
06:16The other one to look at, of course, is climate change.
06:18Under the Biden administration, Australia, particularly under Anthony Albanese, and the
06:23US have been largely on the same page.
06:26But of course, Donald Trump, as we know, previously pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement,
06:30has made it very clear that if he gets back in the White House, he's going to take an
06:33axe if he can, to the elements of Joe Biden's climate legacy.
06:38Now, not clear if Congress will let him do it, but it's something Australia is watching
06:41closely.
06:42At the very, very least, the US is going to pull out of global climate action.
06:47It's no longer going to be seen as a leader, it is going to be at the back of the pack.
06:50And that has real implications, not just for the bilateral relationship, for the state
06:54of climate diplomacy, but also for climate change more broadly.