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Trump ‘not afraid to exercise power’: Hockey

Hockey says he believes Trump will seek to restart his trade war with China as he “sees China as the main adversary of the United States rather than Russian, or even threats in the Middle East”.

At the end of the day, if – the United States – the thing about Donald Trump is he’s not afraid to exercise power and he’s not afraid to threaten to use power. If he does that, then it actually emboldens Australia’s position, doesn’t weaken it because it means we have an entry point into that unpredictable power that others don’t.

I think Trump is – I know that Donald Trump sees Australia very favourably when it comes to issues like national security. I think that will flow through to Aukus that he won’t want to change the relationship with Aukus. He will, however, put a greater priority on building up the US defence system, its reservoir of not only talent, but also importantly the hardware, be it F-35s or Virginia-class subs. So might mean we go down the pecking order on the Virginia-class subs, but again it will rely heavily on our advocacy with Trump.

Whatever the case, I think, you know, we’ll be in a good position with Harris as well.

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