ABSTRACT
According to both major political parties in Australia, prior to 2001, trade and security did not mix. According to former US Secretary of State, George Schultz, clearly they did not. When both Michael Duffy (Special Minister for Trade Negotiations in 1987) and Mark Vaile, newly appointed Trade Minister in 1999, made suggestions that the Australia-US Joint Defence Facilities might be used as bargaining chips in the agricultural disputes of the times,1 they were hastily reminded by their Federal colleagues that in Australian foreign policy the Joint Facilities were off limits. Trade and defence policies with the US were to be conducted as discrete enterprises. George Schultz abruptly circumvented any discussion that the continued deployment of the US Export Enhancement Program (EEP) might result in Australia’s cancellation of Australia-US defence talks.2 Confirming the public distinction, Prime Minister John Howard argued in 2005 that ‘both sides of politics strongly rejected the suggestion that we should use trade as a lever in our strategic alliance with the United States.’3 But what of the reverse?
