Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hasn’t ruled out Australia lifting its defence spending by tens of billions of dollars a year as the Trump administration nudges allies to increase their military budgets.

Albanese was speaking on Today this morning amid the fallout of Defence Minister Richard Marles’ visit to Washington DC, and confusion about whether he had sit-down talks with his US counterpart.

Albanese said his government had already committed to raising spending on the Australian Defence Force by $10 billion over the short term, and could not rule out spending more.

When quizzed about the federal government’s defence budget, he insisted “what we’re going to do is do what we like, which is to provide us with whatever assets we need and our capability”.

Albanese pointed to last month’s announcement of a $10 billion order with a Japanese company for new warships to equip the Royal Australian Navy.

But he also left the door open to more spending for the armed forces.

“We’ll continue to provide whatever investment is required to make sure that we lift our capability and we lift our relationships as well,” Albanese said.

The federal government has projected defence spending to rise from 2.02 per cent of GDP to 2.33 per cent by 2033 to 2034.

But US officials, such as Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, want Australia to go further and set a target of 3.5 per cent GDP, equivalent to about $97 billion annually.

Such a move would mean the Treasury having to find an extra $40 billion, putting a severe strain on other government spending programmes.

The Trump administration insists its allies in the Indo-Pacific and Europe must step up to meet emerging security challenges, and ease the burden on the US military.

In June, US President Donald Trump persuaded members of the NATO alliance to invest 5 per cent of their GDP on defence and security.

The US says China’s ambitions on Taiwan pose a threat to global peace and stability, and require its regional allies, including Australia, to play their part on defence.