Security Challenges
Volume 13, No.2 (2017)

Congressional Support for Australia Has Paid Dividends with the Trump Administration

Dougal Robinson
November 2017

The US Congress offered broad-ranging, bipartisan support for Australia immediately after reports that President Trump badgered, bragged and abruptly ended his January phone call with Prime Minister Turnbull. More than fifty US Representatives and Senators—including many of the most senior members of Congress—took to Twitter, the media and even the Senate floor to reaffirm Australia’s importance as a US ally.

While it is impossible to determine the extent to which congressional pushback shaped the President’s subsequent actions, at the very least the congressional response created a context that helped rather than hindered Australia’s interests with the 45th President. The White House cannot have missed such a strong expression of congressional dismay regarding President Trump’s treatment of the Australian Prime Minister.

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