Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s team has said Australia is a “close and strong ally of the United States”, according to the Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop.
Bishop, who is in New York for the leaders’ summit on refugees, expressed confidence in the US-Australia alliance despite fierce criticism from some in the Australian political system of the prospect of a Trump presidency and his hostility towards the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Speaking with Sky News on Tuesday, Bishop said she had met the Hillary Clinton and Trump campaign teams and transition teams, which prepare for government in the event their candidate is elected.
“I have stressed how important we believe the alliance with the US is … the importance of upholding our alliance but also the importance of free trade, and of course the TPP has been an issue of considerable discussion,” she said.
The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has urged the US Congress to ratify the TPP because the deal underscores America’s strategic commitment to the rule of law in the Asia-Pacific region.
The US president, Barack Obama, is making what is being characterised in the US as last-ditch efforts to persuade Congress to support the controversial deal which is opposed by both Trump and Clinton.
Bishop said from Australia’s point of view the alliance would hold up under a Trump presidency. “The Trump camp made it clear to me Australia is considered a close and strong ally of the US,” she said.
“I am confident that whomever the American people in their wisdom choose to be president, there will be an ongoing strong connection with Australia.”
The former Australian ambassador to the US, Kim Beazley, has warned that based on Trump’s campaign pronouncements he would sink the TPP, harm relations with China and encourage nuclear proliferation in North Asia.
The Australian opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has endorsed Clinton and said Trump’s views are “barking mad”, earning him a rebuke from Turnbull who warned the comments were “not in the national interest”.
On Wednesday the opposition defence spokesman, Richard Marles, defended Shorten’s comments and said that “all sorts of people in the Australian system” had commented on the US election, including Liberals.
“If Donald Trump becomes president of the US, all that’s occurred in terms of how the world has viewed the election will become history very quickly,” he said.
Marles said the alliance was bigger than any one party or individual. “Every administration has a particular view on the relationship but the fundamental thrust of the alliance will continue,” he said.
Marles said it was in Australia’s interest that the US be an open trading nation and retain its presence in east Asia, and Australia would encourage those policies regardless of who won the November election.
