Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era
By Clinton Fernandes
Melbourne University Press, 2025
144pp
RRP $29.99
Author Clinton Fernandes is a professor of International and Political Studies at the University of New South Wales in Canberra, Australia, part of the Australian Defence Force Academy.
In Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era, Fernandes looks at the implications for Australia as United States President Donald Trump and his government upend the so-called “international rules-based order”, in favour of Trump’s view of how US interests should operate in the world.
It is a relatively easy read, with issues and ideas explained in plain English, without excess jargon or theory and clear explanatory examples.
The book’s premise is that Trump’s goal is to maintain US global economic and military dominance over its “biggest threat” — China.
As the book’s publisher writes: “Trump wants the United States, not China, to define and control the technical standards of the global economy: in finance, telecommunications, space, robotics, bioengineering, nanotechnologies and manufacturing methods.
“That means full-spectrum rivalry with China. If economic control is not possible, Trump's plan B is global economic separation from China. For him to achieve these goals, there are three key front lines: Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Taiwan.”
One of the ways Trump is seeking to do this, Fernandes argues, is by demanding that Europe and its allies, such as Britain and Australia, buy US-made military weapons and equipment.
This arrangement would keep the US in control of the use of its weapons — as many can’t be used independently and need regular maintenance by US manufacturers — and allow it to dictate the terms of sale and supply.
Effectively, it means the US is outsourcing the funding of its own defence by getting its allies to spend inordinately vast sums of money on US-made weapons.
Defence research and development is funded in the US with taxpayer’s money and the military is a ready-made buyer for products made with the income from US’ and allies’ military spending.
This plan also props up the US economy and increases the wealth transfer from other countries to Trump’s backers and the super-rich.
Fernandes argues that this strategy also drives the US’s plans for control of Middle Eastern oil. Saudia Arabia, Israel and other Middle Eastern countries are buying US weapons and the Abraham Accords signed by Bahrain, Israel and the United Arab Emirates reflect this strategy.
Speaking about the book on 3CR community radio in January, Fernandes said Australia’s strategy is to attempt to buy relevance through its involvement in the Australia-British-US defence pact AUKUS and developing its military “interoperability” with US defence forces.
It’s a relevant, timely and insightful look at the way Trump is seeking to reshape the world, highlighting that he may look and act like a bumbling idiot at times but behind the madness is a reactionary ideological project driving fundamental change.