AUKUS Presser Underway Shortly

17:00 ET 21:00 GMT: US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are shortly due to deliver a joint press conference following the completion of trilateral Australia-UK-US partnership (AUKUS) security talks.

• Livestream: https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/
• Biden will hold bilateral meetings with both Prime Ministers after the press conference.
• Gideon Rachmann at the FT notes the significance of the AUKUS Pacific security partnership: "Aukus is not a grand philosophical statement like the Atlantic Charter. But the underlying geopolitical intent is clear. The nations of the “Anglosphere” are renewing their alliance — this time to counter China’s efforts to gain naval dominance in the Pacific."
• The Washington Post wrote ahead of the summit that the partnership, "could be the most consequential trilateral defense technology partnership in modern history."
• Australia is expected to buy up to five new high tech, nuclear propelled submarines, based upon British designed Astute class submarine.
• The final deal is expected to include upwards of USD$100 billion in shipbuilding and defence spending over 30 years.