WASHINGTON — While unclear how President Donald Trump (R) will approach AUKUS, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) says there are ‘positive bits of evidence’ that it will be sustained in the new administration.
“The president is very focused on shipbuilding, okay?” Kaine told the Monitor at the Capitol on Wednesday. “So that’s good. And I think President Trump generally has had good positive interactions in his first term with both Australia and the UK. So I think those are some positive bits of evidence.”
Kaine did say that potential drawbacks for AUKUS under Trump are that “he doesn’t like [Joe] Biden accomplishments, and sometimes he likes bilateral more than multilateral.”
Kaine is the ranking member on the seapower subcommittee in the Senate Armed Services Committee. He also has constituents in Virginia that have jobs at shipbuilding sites. Lynchburg-based BWX Technologies has a virtual monopoly on the naval-nuclear reactors used in U.S. naval warships and submarines, including the Virginia-class submarines that will be sold to Australia as part of the trilateral AUKUS deal made under the Joe Biden administration. The deal involves Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“I don’t know exactly, but I think the history, his positive history with Australia and UK and his pro-shipbuilding mentality probably puts us in a pretty good position,” Kaine concluded, “but I don’t exactly know.”
