US President Donald Trump’s ability to achieve legislative successes in the two years before the 2020 presidential election will depend in large part on the results of this year’s midterms. On 6 November...

A rising anti-globalist current in the United States has fundamentally changed the trade agenda in the Asia-Pacific. Since 2010, competition has been building between two emerging mega-regional trade agreements with different visions about...

Australia’s defence innovation community is undergoing a once-in-a-generation reform of its research and development activities, offering a unique opportunity to maximise domestic capabilities. Recent changes[^1] to the Defence Science Technology Group (DSTG) —...

Washington’s inability to increase the US defence budget is having a serious impact on America’s global strategic presence, according to a new brief by the United States Studies Centre.

As with much of this highly atypical presidency, the Trump administration’s United Nations (UN) policy is still taking shape. But for the past six months, Ambassador Nikki R. Haley has been a vocal...

The Asia-Pacific region is facing a raft of geopolitical challenges. North Korea is ascending the nuclear ladder, China’s influence in Southeast Asia is growing, as is uncertainty about China’s commitment to the international...

The Trump Administration has shown a surprising amount of clarity on its intentions for trade policy in the Asia-Pacific. During the presidential campaign, Trump outlined a series of trade initiatives which, in comparison...

Rex Tillerson will approach foreign policy very differently to US President Donald Trump. While Trump’s guiding principle is ‘America First’, Tillerson espouses an assertive vision of US global leadership. Unlike Trump, Tillerson believes...

President Donald Trump has hinted at a more muscular US foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific. In tweets and speeches since the election, he has adopted a hard-line on China’s island-building in the South...

The nomination of General James N. Mattis to the position of Secretary of Defense in the Trump Administration is a reassuring sign for many allies of the United States, as well as those...

In October, 25 governments, including Australia and the United States, established the world’s largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Ross Sea in Antarctica. The US Secretary of State John Kerry, who played...

Australians should be attuned to how the debates between American presidential candidates may shape the foreign and defence policies of the next US President and a new US administration in 2017. Five months...

Together, the United States and Australia are confronting the challenges presented by the “Asian Century.” To ensure these challenges become opportunities for long-term growth, development and prosperity, both the US and Australia must...

In comparison to Cold War norms, the size of current US military forces abroad is currently modest. Recent increases in US capacity in Asia however, are likely to be misinterpreted as either provocative...

The Asia-Pacific is a strategically vital and complex region. As China gradually erodes America’s regional military dominance, the need for US military forces and its allies to work together becomes ever more important...

The United States must remain an active participant in the global economy, but particularly in the fast-growing and highly populated Asia-Pacific region. As the most ambitious of all US preferential trade agreements to...

The AUSFTA was designed to promote both economic and political interests by increasing the investment flows between the two countries and liberalising trade. Nearly a decade after implementation the expansion of both imports...

To answer the crucial question of whether the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is in Australia’s national interests requires a review of its history. With the TPP’s emergence as a largely United States (US)-led initiative...

In light of ongoing cutbacks to the defense budget, research and development and acquisition programs will be severely disrupted. In order to gauge the adequacy of US defense spending, the extent to which...

Australia is caught between two worlds. On one hand, it has the opportunity to take advantage of Asia’s rise and integrate with Asian economies in order to guarantee its inclusion in the region’s...