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1 1 (July 12, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govemfh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing Ih legislative de ba e since 1914 Australia: Background and U.S. Relations Overview Australia's relationship with the United States, forged as allies in all major U.S. wars, remains close and focuses heavily on trade and security cooperation. The United States and Australia enjoy close people-to-people, trade, political, cultural, intelligence, and defense relations. As geopolitical uncertainty in the Indo-Pacific has increased, the alliance has deepened significantly. Driven by shared concerns about the People's Republic of China's (PRC) military and economic rise, the governments of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States launched a partnership in 2021 to provide Australia with nuclear propulsion technology for its next generation submarines. The Australia-UK-U.S. (AUKUS) initiative is also slated to develop advanced military capabilities trilaterally. AUKUS requires congressional approval and involvement throughout the implementation. Australia has embraced the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or Quad, including the United States, Japan, and India), further aligning it with U.S. strategy in the region. Background Australia was first inhabited between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago. The Aboriginal population were hunter-gatherers with a complex spiritual culture focusing on creation myths, rituals, and connections to ancestors and the Australian landscape. Captain James Cook claimed Australia for Britain in 1770, and in 1788 the first European settlement, largely made up of British convicts, was established. Australia evolved into a pastoral settler society based on sheep, wool, and minerals, but is now one of the world's most urbanized countries. Although geographically in the Indo-Pacific, Australia continues to have deep cultural ties with the West, particularly the United States and Britain. Political Setting Australia is an independent nation in the British Commonwealth, and is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. In Canberra, the country's parliament is bicameral, with a House of Representatives and a Senate. Elections occur at least once every three years, but the government can call early elections. The Labor Party and the Liberal-National Party Coalition are the two main political forces in Australia. In May 2022, Labor Party Leader Anthony Albanese defeated Scott Morrison of the Liberal Party to become Prime Minister (PM) of Australia. Labor won 77 of 151 Representative seats, and the Coalition won 58 seats. Each won 15 out of 40 Senate seats. Climate change policy appeared to be a decisive issue, as the election yielded gains for the Green Party and unexpected wins for Teal independent candidates, known for their fiscal conservatism and environmental advocacy. Updated July 12, 2023 Figure 1. Australia in Brief Economics and Trade The Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) came into force in 2005. The U.S. trade surplus with Australia was $14 billion in 2021, a 56% increase from 2020. The United States is Australia's largest foreign investment destination. Top Australian exports and services include raw materials, energy, agriculture, and tourism. Australia is among the world's top three exporters of energy and resources, including lithium, cobalt, and other critical minerals. China is Australia's largest two-way trade partner and accounts for approximately one-third of Australia's global trade. Although the two countries signed a Free Trade Agreement in 2015, China has restricted some imports from Australia; some observers say these sanctions are in response to Australian attempts to curb PRC efforts to influence Australian politics. Regardless, Australian exports to China increased in 2021. Strategic Outlook Several decades of Australia's trade relationship with China, and Australia's strategic relationship with the United States, are central to Canberra's geopolitics. Amid recent troughs in Australia-PRC relations, Australia has bolstered the U.S. alliance, and deepened strategic ties with Japan and other nations. Since 2017, multiple instances of alleged PRC interference in Australian politics-as well as China's sanctioning of Australia following Canberra's endorsement of an inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 disease- have degraded Australian public perceptions of China. A 2023 poll finds that 75% of Australians think China will become a major military threat in the next 20 years; in 2018, 45% of Australians believed that prediction. Australia's government has taken measures to thwart what some officials see as the PRC's undue influence in

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