Politicians from both sides in Australia have weighed in today on US President Donald Trump’s apparent stumble when said he did not what AUKUS was.

Trump was hosting visiting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House when the pair were asked by a reporter whether they’d be discussing AUKUS, under which Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines.”What does that mean?”, Trump replied.

“What does that mean?”, Trump replied.

After being told by the British journalist it was the defence agreement involving the three nations, the US President said “we’ve had a very good relationship with Australia”.

Since Trump took office last month, the future of the AUKUS alliance which Australia will spend $368 billion on to acquire a fleet of nuclear-propelled submarines by the 2030s has been under scrutiny.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent played a straight bat when 9News’ Jonathan Kearsley in Washington asked him if the president knows what AUKUS is.

Bessent replied: “I think we’re going to have to limit the questions to Americans who he can understand.”

Earlier this month, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Trump was well aware of the AUKUS alliance.

He was speaking as the Australian government made a $US500 million ($798 million) payment to Washington as part of the AUKUS deal.

The defence deal was signed by Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden to counter China’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo Pacific region.

Australia, the US and Britain signed the AUKUS pact nearly four years ago, with the aim of maintaining a “free and open Indo-Pacific”.

Under the deal, Australia would purchase three Virginia-class submarines from the US and build five of a new AUKUS-class submarine in cooperation with Britain.

But there have been concerns over the US’s ability to produce nuclear-powered submarines for its own military needs, aside from its deal with Australia.