Trust and diversify: A geoeconomic strategy for the Australia-US alliance

USSC Live

As Australia and the United States commemorate the 70th anniversary of their alliance, the alliance agenda is burgeoning, matching the pace and breath of geostrategic change in the Indo-Pacific, accompanied by constant innovation in ways nation states project power and influence. China’s economic coercion of Australia is a telling case in point, figuring prominently in recent remarks from US senior officials. But where and how does geoeconomic competition fit in the Australia-US alliance agenda? What should a framework for a geoeconomic alliance cooperation encompass? What does an Australia-US alliance with a geoeconomic agenda look like, institutionally and operationally? The USSC hosted a discussion with the authors of Trust and diversify: A geoeconomic strategy for the Australia-US alliance, a new United States Studies Centre (USSC) report launched on 2 September. The report’s co-authors – American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Zack Cooper, Australian National University Senior Lecturer Darren Lim and former Center for a New American Security researcher Ashley Feng – engaged in a discussion moderated by Perth USAsia Centre Research Director Jeffrey Wilson.