A close ally of Donald Trump has urged the US president not to ditch the Aukus programme after the Pentagon said it was reviewing collaboration on submarines with the UK and Australia.

Glenn Youngkin, the Republican governor of Virginia, said he hoped shipbuilders in his state would “have a chance” to continue to “build for our allies” and played down the chance of the project being scrapped.

The Pentagon is currently reviewing Aukus, a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US, involving collaboration on submarines, AI and quantum technology that is worth £176 billion over 30 years.

The programme was previously considered a pillar of Washington security policy, but came under review shortly after Mr Trump took office in January. 

The US government was examining it as “part of ensuring that this initiative of the previous administration is aligned with the president’s ‘America first’ agenda”, a Pentagon official confirmed last week.

But Sir Keir Starmer said at the G7 summit in Canada earlier this week that he did not have “any doubt” that Aukus would “progress”.

Mr Youngkin, who visited London on Wednesday for a ceremony to unveil a restored statue of George Washington in Trafalgar Square, acknowledged that ending the programme would harm shipbuilders in his state.

“Our militaries have not only integrated and executed very well together over centuries, but I also believe that the sharing of technology has been really important,” he told The Telegraph.