The question is no longer whether America is changing, but who is adapting fastest. While some countries await Washington’s next move, Australia is reshaping its neighbourhood through an increasingly coordinated blend of power, partnerships, and persistence.
Like all of America’s allies and partners, Australia is struggling to adapt to the shock of the second Trump Administration. But it is not floundering. The elements of an Australian way of statecraft are apparent, and these include an intensification of the Indo-Pacific strategy that different governments in Canberra have prosecuted over the past decade. Unlike most US allies, Australia is continuing to prioritise the deepening of its security links with Washington. Its government and public seem to have come to terms with the cognitive dissonance of relying on an ally whose leader they do not trust.
