Advanced military co-operation could be the next stepping stone for Australia and the United States after a cordial meeting between the leaders of the two nations.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came out of the White House gathering unscathed after signing a critical minerals deal with US President Donald Trump, who in the past has had testy talks with some other visiting country leaders.
"He's a friend of Australia," Mr Albanese said of Mr Trump during an interview on Nine's Today show on Wednesday.
"It was a terrific meeting; it couldn't have gone better."
The meeting could lay the groundwork for the president to pull additional levers to accelerate Australia's acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, the first of which it plans to buy from the US early next decade.
Mr Trump gave his strongest commitment to date to the $368 billion project, ending months of uncertainty over whether he supported the deal.
Asked if the submarines would be delivered to Australia, he replied: "Oh no, they're getting them".
"We're just going full steam ahead building," he told reporters in the White House Cabinet Room.
Mr Trump suggested the US might fast-track delivery of the vessels, but wouldn't give a timeline.
While Australia wouldn't receive its first submarines until after Mr Trump left office, the president can boost co-operation in other areas of the military agreement, including the sharing of emerging technologies under pillar two of AUKUS, according to Jared Mondschein, director of research at the United States Studies Centre.
"If you can get President Trump to want to do AUKUS further or faster or more ambitiously, I think that's still a pretty big win," he told AAP.
But other experts question whether the timeline of the AUKUS deal is viable, given that the US is struggling to meet its targets for submarine production.
Perth USAsia Centre chief executive Gordon Flake said the Trump administration needed to do more to shore up its defence industrial base, but was optimistic about Australia receiving its submarines on time.
"The United States actually needs to strengthen its own production capability," he told AAP.
"That's what the president's talking about, it needs to go faster."
Professor Flake said the deal was in the interests of both countries because Australian businesses were helping to speed up American submarine manufacturing.
"They need industrial heft, we need submarines and we need to work together in the process," he said.
Mr Albanese also inked a multi-billion-dollar critical minerals deal during his meeting with Mr Trump, which Prof Flake also said Australia's $13 billion critical minerals and rare earths deal with the US reflected a "sense of urgency" as China clamps down on exports of rare earths.
Mr Albanese said it was also about Australian jobs.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Mr Albanese and ambassador Kevin Rudd met with members of Congress, including Democrats House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
His final event before heading home is a meeting with top executives from BHP and business leaders to celebrate the mining giant's 140th anniversary and spruik Australia's resources sector.