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Sydney, Australia — House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul released the following statement on the administration’s certification to Congress that Australia and the U.K. will be granted a defense trade exemption with the U.S. This exemption will remove significant red tape and administrative burdens on U.S. companies by relaxing the International Traffic in Arms Regulation’s (ITAR) requirements that currently limit defense cooperation between the three countries. The House Foreign Affairs Committee led efforts in Congress last year to create this exemption, culminating in its final passage on the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.

“I am pleased the administration has finally provided the long overdue defense trade exemption to two of our closest allies, Australia and the United Kingdom. However, there are still too many items that are critical to fully implementing AUKUS that are not included in this exemption. Until the Excluded Technologies List is limited to only a handful of items — as Congress intended — big government regulation will continue to hamper this crucial alliance’s ability to truly deter a conflict in the Indo-Pacific.”

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