Joe Courtney Warns Trump's Tariffs Are Pushing Indo-Pacific Allies 'In The Wrong Direction'

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During a House Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) spoke about President Trump's tariffs on Indo-Pacific allies.

Transcript

00:00Here and I recognize a gentleman from Connecticut, Mr. Courtney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank

00:03you to the witnesses for your testimony this morning. Again, at the outset, I just would note

00:08on Saturday, the 24th Virginia-class submarine was commissioned into the Navy. There are four more

00:13that are coming online between now and the end of 2026. So, you know, there's no question that

00:20the cadence is not where it should be, but if you look at tonnage, and again, if you look at the

00:26fact that post-COVID, the yards are recovering. We just had the new Secretary of the Navy at

00:32Quonset Point on Friday, who, again, got an eyeful in terms of just the chock-a-block activity

00:40that's going on there. So, just to go back to Bacchus for a second, Admiral, this committee

00:47in record time enacted all the authorities in 2023 per optimal pathway to get, again, that

00:53engaged. There still is, in my opinion, a misperception that AUKUS is primarily about

00:59just helping Australia. Can you talk a little bit about what it means in terms of the U.S.

01:05as far as making our nation safer and also the Indo-Pacific safer?

01:12Yes, AUKUS delivers something to Indo-Pacom that is critical and could be a key advantage,

01:18change, and that is an Indian Ocean submarine base. This gives us faster response time to

01:26the South China Sea than in Hawaii, in Washington, in San Diego. It gives us the key ability to

01:32maneuver into the Indian Ocean without the burden of having to go through straits, and so

01:39it is key. And then Australia is making key investments in the submarine industrial base.

01:44As I utter these words, there are 11 Australians stationed on attack boats in Hawaii, and scores

01:51that are working in the Pearl Harbor shipyard. These are just but a few of their contributions.

01:56And again, the plan is also to have the rotation of Virginia's starting in 2027, I believe,

02:02in Henderson, in Western Australia, which, again, they are making huge investments in terms

02:08of the infrastructure that's necessary for that effort. You know, one of the authorities,

02:13Mr. Ngo, that we enacted vis-à-vis AUKUS was to, we had to actually pass a law to allow

02:20Australia to invest $3 billion into our industrial base. It was such a novel, extraordinary component

02:27of the optimal pathway that we actually, as I said, had to change the Treasury Department's

02:33rules to accept that money. As you, I think, should know, the defense minister from Australia

02:39went in his visit with Mr. Hegseth, brought the first check for a half billion dollars,

02:45which was deposited in the U.S. Treasury. And to follow up Mr. Smith's question regarding,

02:52you know, the trade war that's happening right now, Australia has a free trade agreement with

02:58the U.S., there are zero tariffs on U.S. goods that come into Australia. As Adam said, there's a

03:04two-to-one trade surplus from the U.S. into Australia. They're putting money into our industrial

03:12base, and yet we are tariffing Australia at the same level as the country of Iran. And I will tell

03:19you that, you know, maybe you've had sort of conversations where this hasn't come up.

03:23That's not the case for some of us who, you know, are in touch with members of parliament

03:29in Australia. There is definitely collateral damage to our allies in terms of what's happening

03:36out there. And the picture that was in the news the other day of representatives from the South

03:41Korean government and Japan shaking hands with China to announce a new anti-tariff effort by those

03:50countries. I mean, we are just pushing people in the wrong direction in this part of the world.

03:56And we need more from you in terms of just what is the department's position in terms of advising

04:02the White House about the fact that this is driving our allies in the wrong direction.

04:07Congressman, on the issue of tariffs, I mean, that's an issue that's beyond the purview of my

04:15personal position to comment on. It's not something the Department of Defense focuses on, but you

04:21mentioned the $500 million contribution that Australia made. I was there when Secretary Hegseth met

04:27with Deputy Prime Minister Moros. We were grateful and we are grateful for the contribution Australia is

04:33making that's part of a larger $3 billion investment into our submarine industrial base. Secretary Hegseth said at that

04:42meeting, there's more that needs to be done to increase. So just be, I have just a few seconds left. I mean, this is an

04:50all of government situation and you cannot stovepipe the Department of Defense in terms of just what's

04:55happening with other parts of the administration. And this trade war, as I said, is driving our allies in the wrong

05:02direction and we need to stop it. I yield back.

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