Former prime minister Paul Keating says Australia should "cut the tag" with the United States following Donald Trump's shock win in Tuesday's presidential election, and instead assert our own foreign policy in the Asian region.

He said Australia found itself in a "crazy position" where the US alliance had "taken on a reverential, sacramental quality" for both Coalition and Labor politicians, at the expense of pursuing relationships with our closest neighbours.

"The foreign policy of Australia is basically: we have tag along rights to the US. It's time to cut the tag, it's time to get out of it," Mr Keating told the ABC's 7.30 program. "What we have to do is make our way in Asia ourselves, with an independent foreign policy."

The comments come amid a soul-searching following the election of Mr Trump, whose unorthodox pronouncements on foreign affairs and trade have alarmed observers and markets, but pleased American voters who want the US to look after its own backyard.