UK and Australia deepen AUKUS submarine pact with 50-year treaty

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain said on Thursday it would deepen its AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership with Australia through a new 50-year treaty that it expected to create jobs and boost British exports.

Australia, Britain and the U.S. agreed the AUKUS pact in 2021 to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines from the next decade to counter China's ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.

However, U.S. President Donald Trump launched a formal review of the pact last month to examine whether it met his "America First" criteria. Australia has said it is confident the partnership will proceed.

The new British-Australian treaty will underpin each country's submarine programmes and is expected to be worth up to 20 billion pounds ($27.1 billion) to Britain in exports over the next 25 years, its ministry of defence said.

The bilateral treaty comes as Britain's defence and foreign ministers travel to Australia to meet their counterparts as well as visit the northern garrison city of Darwin, as Australia hosts its largest-ever military exercise.

"AUKUS is one of Britain's most important defence partnerships, strengthening global security while driving growth at home," British defence minister John Healey said. "This historic treaty confirms our AUKUS commitment for the next half century."

At its peak, there will be over 21,000 people in Britain working on the AUKUS programme, Britain said.

($1 = 0.7377 pounds)

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; editing by William James)