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Lowy Institute x Carnegie Endowment: The future of the Australia–US alliance
The alliance between Australia and the United States has never been more consequential — or more uncertain.
The AUKUS agreement of September 2021 elevated the US–Australia partnership to an unprecedented level of cooperation and strategic alignment. Yet within just two months of taking office, the Trump Administration's approach to Ukraine and its treatment of long-standing ally Canada raised fundamental questions about the future direction of American foreign policy — and what that means for partners like Australia.
In this Lowy Institute and Carnegie Endowment co-hosted discussion, leading experts examine the state of the alliance, the implications of a shifting Washington, and the strategic choices now facing Canberra. Drawing on findings from a recent Carnegie Asia Program report, the panel explores whether AUKUS remains on firm foundations, how Australia should think about alliance dependence, and what a more transactional United States means for the Indo-Pacific.
Susannah Patton (Chair) is Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute and Project Lead for the Asia Power Index, the Institute's annual data-driven assessment of shifting regional power.
Sam Roggeveen is Director of the Lowy Institute's International Security Program and author of The Echidna Strategy: Australia's Search for Power and Peace (La Trobe University Press, 2023).
Evan A. Feigenbaum is Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, overseeing the organisation's work across Washington, Beijing, New Delhi, and Singapore on East and South Asia.
Courtney Stewart is a Senior Managing Consultant at OCRT in Canberra, with more than 20 years of experience across government, industry, and think tanks in national security and deterrence in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Matthew Sussex is an Associate Professor (Adjunct) at the Griffith Asia Institute, a Fellow at the Institute for Regional Security, and a Visiting Fellow at both the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre and the Centre for European Studies at the Australian National University.
Featuring
Sam Roggeveen
Sam Roggeveen is Program Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program. He is the author of The Echidna Strategy: Australia's Search for Power and Peace (Opens in new window), published by La Trobe University Press in 2023.
Susannah Patton
Susannah Patton is Director, Asia Engagement at RMIT and a Nonresident fellow at the Lowy Institute.
