The White House under Trump pledges to support AUKUS agreement.

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Donald Trump’s administration will uphold , US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has said while hosting Defence Minister Richard Marles.

In Hegseth’s first meeting with a foreign counterpart, he also welcomed Australia’s first payment of A$798 million as part of the deal, under which Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

With US President Donald Trump announcing a number of renegotiations and shifts in areas of US foreign policy,.

However, a fortnight after being sworn in, Hegseth has said Trump is supportive of the initiative, which Australia sought in September 2021 under the previous Biden administration.

“The president is very aware, supportive of AUKUS. He recognises the importance of the defence industrial base. The investment Australia is willing to make,” Hegseth said.

“It enhances our ability in the subterranean space, but also our allies and partners. This is not a mission in the Indo-Pacific that America can undertake by itself. It has to be robust allies and partners, technology-sharing, and subs are a huge part of it.”

Defence Minister Richard Marles meets with US Defence Secretary over AUKUS partnership image

Marles told Hegseth he “couldn’t be more excited about the meeting we’re having today”.

“There have been challenges there in the past. But it is of course why we see that part of getting this done is for Australia to make the contribution that we are to the American industrial base, which is measured in billions of dollars.

“We are encouraged by the progress.”

Leaders of Australia, UK and the US who signed the AUKUS deal called it the most strategically important partnership in decades, adding the goal is to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable.

The agreement will enable the UK and the US to transfer submarine-specific material and equipment to Australia — the first time the US will share its submarine technology in 50 years. Previously, it had only shared the technology with the UK.

Under the $368 billion deal, Australia is to buy between three and five off-the-shelf Virginia-class boats in the early 2030s as it prepares a domestic industry.

It’s Australia’s largest-ever capital purchase.

But US ship builders have long been failing to even produce the two-submarines-a-year the US government has been procuring itself, let alone Australia’s order.

Hegseth said he “sure hopes” his country could fulfil the deal as Marles described the $US3 billion injection as a “a very unique and significant step” in the alliance.

In a later press conference, Marles would not say if the US had indicated it would ask for more cash.

“This is the agreement that we have,” he said.

“We are really happy with the conversations that we’ve had with the Trump Administration in relation to this.

“The optimal pathway – which is now underpinned in a trilateral treaty between our three countries (including the UK), which I signed in Washington back in August of last year – is an agreement that is going to endure over decades.”

Australia’s military budget is expected to rise to 2.3 per cent of GDP by 2034, putting it in line with current spending by the UK and ahead of France and China.