29 August 2025

The United States Studies Centre (USSC) is all systems go as we prepare for the annual Sydney International Strategy Forum (SISF). This month we confirmed more than ten additional speakers, including former US Deputy Secretary of State and Chairman and Co-Founder of The Asia Group Dr Kurt Campbell, former US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines (virtual), former Representative in the Japanese House of Representatives Wada Yoshiaki, former Singaporean Ambassador to the Russian Federation and Permanent Representative to the UN Bilahari Kausikan and Director-General of the Australian Office of National Intelligence Andrew Shearer.

Amidst the backdrop of tumultuous tariffs, the AUKUS review and changing relationships with US allies, the forum will examine these issues with an aim to not just understand them, but to help governments and businesses navigate them as smoothly as possible.

Even in the lead-up to the forum, we are having active conversations with representatives from across the region on issues from trade to defence spending. We hosted a wide range of workshops, roundtables and Track 1.5 dialogues this month with visiting experts from the United States, India, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, NATO countries and more. Our dialogues and events are an active part of shaping the international conversation on these issues and this month we welcomed the most senior representative from the current Trump administration to date, General Counsel to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Jennifer Thornton.

Critically, our conversations span a range of ages and career-levels and we were pleased to welcome the second cohort of our Japan-Australia Dialogue and Exchange for the Next Generation (JADE) fellows to Australia this month. We are connecting these rising stars in the Japanese foreign policy community with government departments and businesses in Australia to foster greater understanding and establish ties that can grow throughout their career. In October, we will send the Australian cohort to Japan for a week as part of the exchange.

And we are welcoming a familiar face to a new role at the USSC. Dr Lavina Lee has stepped into the role of Director of Foreign Policy and Defence where she will play a key role in continuing these dialogues and exchanges across a range of policy issues that are essential to the work of the Centre. The former program director Professor Peter J. Dean is taking on a new role with the Australian Defence Force, but will remain an important part of the USSC team as Senior Advisor for Defence Strategy.

If you want to experience firsthand what the conversations are like as we parse challenging foreign policy, economic and defence issues, make sure to register for SISF 2025. We hope to see you there!

News

Economic Security Dialogue Series: Tools and Rules

Today, USSC hosted the second 1.5 track dialogue in its Economic Security Dialogue Series. Today’s theme was 'Tools and Rules: The new era of economic statecraft'. The dialogue looked at how the use of economic and financial tools to achieve a wide range of policy objectives has risen sharply over the past decade. Over the course of the day, participants explored the forces driving this new era of economic statecraft, the direction of US-China economic relations, the efficacy of various economic and trade tools, and challenges confronting the multilateral trading system in the face of rising economic nationalism.

Second JADE cohort in Australia

This month, USSC hosted the latest cohort of Japan-Australia Dialogue and Exchange for the Next Generation (JADE) fellows in Australia from 18-22 August. USSC and the Japan Foundation have expanded the network ahead of the 50^th anniversary of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation between Australia and Japan. The cohort travelled from Melbourne to Canberra and Sydney and held meetings with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Defence, the Embassy of Japan and multiple businesses and think tanks.

The theme for this year is a Free and Open Indo-Pacific and the Japanese fellows’ interests include deterrence, trade, economic security and the Pacific islands.

The Australian fellows will travel to Tokyo in October.

USSC wins Strategic Policy Grant from Department of Defence

The USSC was successful in its bid to run a special project investigating Indo-Pacific nuclear proliferation dynamics and Australian options for shaping outcomes under the Australian Department of Defence's Strategic Policy Grant Program. 'Nuclear crossroads: Informing Australia’s response to emerging proliferation challenges' is a two-year project. USSC experts will engage with domestic and international experts through elite polling, webinars, roundtables and crisis simulations to map realistic horizontal and vertical Indo-Pacific proliferation scenarios to 2035. The project will assess the implications of these scenarios for Australian interests and regional security and develop a menu of policy options for Australia to shape regional proliferation outcomes.

Japan's defence revolution and Australia-Japan-US trilateralism under Trump 2.0

A panel of experts unpacked Japan’s National Security Strategy and explored the opportunities and challenges for Australia-Japan-US trilateral strategic cooperation under Trump 2.0. The discussion featured Yuki Tatsumi, Senior Director at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security; Hirohito Ogi, Senior Research Fellow with the Institute of Geoeconomics at the International House of Japan, and Tom Corben, Research Fellow in the Foreign Policy and Defence Program at the USSC, moderated by USSC Professor and CEO Dr Michael Green. The event followed a private roundtable with the visiting experts earlier that day.

This event was part of the United States Studies Centre’s Assessing Implementation of Abe’s National Security Strategy supported by the Smith Richardson Foundation.

Track 1.5 policy dialogue with IP4 and NATO

On Wednesday, the USSC and the Korea Foundation hosted an intensive policy planning dialogue to provide insights and recommendations for advancing cooperation between the Indo-Pacific Four (IP4) and NATO. The dialogue brought together officials, leading experts and defence industry representatives from Australia, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, the United States and NATO countries. Across the day, the gathering looked at what is driving IP4 defence cooperation, operationalising that cooperation and what the future of the IP4 could look like.

FES Asia Strategic Foresight Group Delegation discusses alliances and economic security issues

The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation Asia Strategic Foresight Group Delegation joined USSC experts for a roundtable discussion on US alliances in the Indo-Pacific and economic security issues this month. The delegation included experts from think tanks and universities in eight different countries, including India, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Pakistan. The discussion looked at the impact of the second Trump administration on the Indo-Pacific, especially in relation to the Quad and other minilateral relationships, and how economic security issues are impacting countries throughout the region.

USSC-AAA Fellow looks at "infrastructure statecraft"

USSC hosted a roundtable with USSC-American Australian Association Fellow Dr Mary Bridges to discuss “infrastructure statecraft.” She looked at how US bankers, builders and policymakers have historically used these deep networks to project power, how that foundation is fraying and what the erosion reveals about the new geopolitics of weaponised interdependence. Dr Bridges is the author of Dollars and Dominion: US Bankers and the Making of a Superpower and is an Ernest May Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center.

Trump official one of many distinguished visitors this month

This month, USSC welcomed multiple officials and experts this month for private roundtable events, including the most senior Trump administration official to visit Australia in his second term. A few highlights include:

• Jennifer Thornton is General Counsel with the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). She advises Ambassador Greer and USTR’s offices on legal matters in relation to trade policy.
• Patrick Cronin is Asia-Pacific Security Chair at the Hudson Institute and visited USSC for a free-flowing discussion on the state of play in the US-Australia relationship and shifting dynamics in the region.
• Brad Setser, the Whitney Shepardson Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, also joined the Centre for a private briefing this week on economic security matters, particularly in relation to global trade and capital flows.
• David Santoro is the President and CEO of the Pacific Forum and joined the USSC earlier this month for a discussion on strategic deterrence.

Academic roundtable draws lessons from Iran-Contra for today

This month, the academic team hosted a roundtable discussion with Dr Alan McPherson, Freaney Professor of History and the Director of the Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy at Temple University in Philadelphia. The discussion compared the Reagan-Bush administration during the time of the Iran-Contra affair and the current state of play with the second Trump administration.

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University of Sydney NSW 2006