US Senate confirms David Brat as next ambassador to Australia

The US Senate pushed through more than 70 confirmations on Friday before its summer recess, including that of former Virginia congressman David Brat as the next US ambassador to Australia. The post had been empty since November 2024, when Joe Biden's appointee, Caroline Kennedy, departed.

The 61-year-old Brat was nominated by Donald Trump in April. He served two terms representing Virginia in Congress until losing his seat in 2018 to Democrat Abigail Spanberger, now the state's governor. Brat first entered Congress in 2014 after defeating then House majority leader Eric Cantor in a primary. Before politics, he was vice-president of business relations at Liberty University.

Reaction in Australia

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said in April, when asked about Brat's earlier claims that US intelligence agencies had conspired against Trump, that he would work with whoever Trump nominated, adding that Australia respects other countries' sovereign right to choose their own ambassadors.

Brat has previously been described as a Tea Party-aligned figure and admirer of author Ayn Rand, and has argued in past writing for merging capitalist and Christian principles.

Strained backdrop

The confirmation comes as US-Australia relations remain tense. In July, Trump imposed 12.5% tariffs on many Australian exports, with Washington citing insufficient enforcement of bans on goods made with forced labour. Australia's trade minister, Don Farrell, called for the tariffs to be scrapped.

Brat's arrival will coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Anzus security treaty, and follows the Albanese government's May decision to buy three second-hand American nuclear submarines under the $370bn Aukus deal, rather than the two second-hand and one new vessel originally planned.