Australia has played the Trump card with some skill

Simon Jackman, The Australian Financial Review

Malcolm Turnbull and Donald Trump address a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Friday.

Washington crawled with Australians for three days, with the visit of the largest and most senior Australian political and business delegation ever to visit. In addition to the Prime Minister and Trade Minister, four state premiers and two chief ministers were in town, along with a wide array of business leaders.

Just 13 months into the Trump administration, it is remarkable that this marked the fourth time Turnbull and Trump have met, a high tempo of engagement under any circumstances, and all the more remarkable given the shaky start to their relationship. ...

Balancing Australia's relationships with both the US and China is the single most pressing issue in Australian strategic thinking and in the conduct of Australian foreign policy, a lens through which almost all of Australia's international engagement is filtered. Would "America First" see a deterioration of US-China relations that would wedge Australia, precisely the outcome that Australian foreign policy has been singularly focussed on avoiding?

"Doubling down" on the US relationship has not been an unthinking or sentimental exercise. Australia has been assertive, clear-eyed and creative in managing the US relationship under Trump. In a way that a Clinton win might not have done, Trump's win prompted considerable Australian introspection about the US-Australia relationship. The Australian government's recently released foreign policy white paper reveals the intensity of that self-interrogation, its opening chapters articulating the principles that motivate Australian foreign policy, its conclusions reaffirming that the US relationship remains the bedrock of Australia's defence strategy and foreign policy.

The Australian government's engagement strategy in the US has followed suit. The defence and intelligence relationship remains intensely close. Turnbull's first 24 hours in Washington were dominated by defence and intelligence meetings and briefings. The Australian Embassy in Washington has put the military alliance front and centre in its public diplomacy, prominently celebrating "100 years of mateship", powerfully reminding Americans that Australians and Americans have fought together in every major conflict since World War One. ...

Simon Jackman is a professor and chief executive of the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.