Washington: Above anything else, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will want to use his White House visit to extract a commitment from US President Donald Trump to honour the AUKUS defence pact and the plan for Australia to buy at least three nuclear-powered submarines from the US before making our own.

It seems that’s where things are heading . Despite the Pentagon undertaking a thorough review of the deal, all the messaging suggests the US will broadly stick with it , perhaps with some alterations to put an “America First” stamp on a policy inked under former US president Joe Biden.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese leaves for Washington to meet with Donald Trump. Credit: AAP

And why wouldn’t they? AUKUS is a great deal for the US and its lagging submarine industrial base, which

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