Australia and Britain downplay a review of a multi-billion dollar submarine deal. Live from the UK,

this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Nick Qureshi in Fort Leanna Burn.

The United States is reviewing its multi-billion dollar submarine deal with the UK and Australia.

Under the Orcus Pact, Australia would get its first nuclear-powered submarines

from the US. Washington officials told the BBC they wanted to ensure the project was aligned

with President Trump's America First Agenda. In Singapore, the BBC's Katie Silver can tell us more.

Hi Katie. Hi there, Nick. As it stands right now, what are the terms of this deal?

Sure. So it's a trilateral pact between the US, UK and Australia, basically believed to be aimed at countering China.

Under it, Australia would get its first nuclear powers subs from the US, and then the Allies would create a new fleet by sharing their cutting-edge technology.

Now, the agreement which was signed back in 2021 was obviously signed under three different

governments. All three countries have since had elections and it's worth a quarter of a trillion

dollars. How are Australia and the UK reacting to these possible changes?

Both countries have been facing pressure from the White House

to increase their military spending,

something that we've seen the UK agreed to do,

more so than Australia.

The US wants its allies to be spending about 3% of their GDP on defence

as soon as possible.

Australia says it will be lifting funding,

but not by that same

extent. We're also hearing from Australia's defence minister saying that if you look geographically

on a map, for example, you can see why Australian needs these long-range subs. In terms of the

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