Trump to Allies: We Don't Need You

Three weeks into a war he started, Donald Trump has decided he doesn't need friends.

The United States of America do not need the help of anyone. We are fighting for OUR interests, not NATO's interests, not Japan's interests, not Australia's interests. AMERICA FIRST means AMERICA ALONE if necessary!

— Donald Trump, Truth Social, March 18, 2026

That post landed at 2am Sydney time. By breakfast, Australian politicians were doing the awkward dance of responding to an ally who just told them to get lost.

The timing is extraordinary. Last week, Trump asked these same allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Australia deployed a Wedgetail surveillance aircraft. Now he's telling everyone their help isn't wanted.

Canberra responds

Shadow Industry Minister Andrew Hastie was the first to break ranks with diplomatic niceties.

'I thought it was a petulant post from a president under immense pressure,' Hastie told the ABC. 'As I like to quote Mike Tyson, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.'

Hastie pointed out that Australia wasn't consulted before the US launched strikes on February 28. The alliance, he suggested, is looking increasingly one-directional.

'We've been a longstanding ally of the United States, we've met our obligations within that alliance framework, we've got a proud history,' he said. 'I just don't think that's how you treat allies. I think that's a reflection on his character more than us.'

Treasurer Jim Chalmers took the opposite approach, brushing off the outburst entirely. 'Not really something that has been a focus of our discussions,' he said. Whether that's strategy or denial is unclear.

The war isn't going well

Trump's outburst reads like frustration. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Iran has fired more than 2,000 drones and missiles at Gulf states since the conflict began. The USS Gerald R. Ford, America's newest carrier, just pulled into port in Crete after a fire injured nearly 200 sailors.

Overnight, two people died near Tel Aviv from Iranian missile strikes. Israeli forces killed Iran's security chief Ali Larijani and domestic security commander Gholamreza Soleimani. Lebanese officials report more than 900 dead from Israeli strikes, including at least 100 children.

And now Trump's own National Counterterrorism Center director has resigned. Joseph Kent, a Trump appointee, said he could not 'in good conscience' support the war, accusing Israel and its lobbying groups of convincing the US to enter a conflict that doesn't serve American interests.

The economics are getting worse

Jet fuel prices have doubled in ten days. Scandinavian airline SAS is cancelling 1,000 flights in April. Australian petrol prices are surging. The RBA just raised rates for the second time this year, citing the conflict as a factor.

For Australian households already stretched by cost-of-living pressures, a war they didn't ask for is making things worse. And the president who started it just told them their support isn't needed.

Where does ANZUS go from here?

Hastie said something revealing: he agrees with Malcolm Turnbull that the 'global rules-based order is dead' and Australia needs to stand on its 'own two feet.'

That's a Shadow Minister from the Coalition — the party of the US alliance — effectively conceding that America can't be relied on. When both sides of Australian politics start saying the same thing about Washington, something fundamental has shifted.

The question isn't whether Trump meant what he said. He always means it, until he doesn't. The question is whether Australian defence planning should assume this is an aberration or a preview of how alliances work in the Trump era.

For now, the Wedgetail stays in the UAE. Australia remains technically supportive of operations it wasn't consulted about, led by a president who just said he doesn't need the help.

That's an uncomfortable position. It's also, increasingly, the only one on offer.