This madness has gone on for too long. Australia can no longer rely on Trump’s America

March 26, 2026 — 5:00am

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Right now, Australians are facing a severe shortage of fossil fuels and their derivatives thanks to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Even if, miraculously, the war stopped tomorrow, this disruption would still inflict considerable economic and social pain on us for a fair time to come. Which countries have caused this to happen? Surely the chief culprit is Australia’s biggest and most powerful ally and military partner, the United States, whose leader has for the entirety of the conflict revelled in the killings and mayhem he is causing.

Anybody familiar with Iran’s geography and its regime’s expertise in designing and producing weapons of asymmetrical warfare would have known to have prepared to defend the narrow waterway. But not Donald Trump. The long-standing international rules-based order, consultations with allies and friends, and the established rules of engagement in conflict are also matters he treats with contempt. It’s fascinating to witness until you find yourself on the wrong side of it. And that is where we find ourselves.

The Trump effect on Australia is all too often looked at incrementally and in the moment, obscuring a larger question Australians can’t keep avoiding: What direction should a democratic country that believes in bilateral mutuality and orderly relationships and behaviour take when a vastly larger friend, ally and previously reliable protector runs off the rails and behaves contemptibly........

© The Age