Donald Trump has lavished praise on Anthony Albanese at a ceremonial dinner ahead of the APEC summit in South Korea, talking up co-operation between the US and Australia on rare earths and other issues.
Eight leaders including the prime ministers of New Zealand, Canada, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam attended the dinner in the tourist town of Gyeongju.
The gathering was held in honour of Mr Trump, who is now preparing for a hotly anticipated meeting with his Chinese counterpart where trade is expected to take centre stage.
Mr Trump said his talks with President Xi Jinping would run for three or four hours, and suggested he was close to a deal with China, which would see the US ease some of its punishing tariffs.
Addressing the gathered officials, Mr Trump reserved some of his strongest praise for the Australian prime minister, whom he was seated next to at the round table.
“We had a great meeting a week ago,” the US president told Mr Albanese.
“You’ve done a fantastic job … we’re working together on rare earths, but we’re working on a lot of things together,” he said.
Mr Albanese greeted his American counterpart warmly and shook his hand as the leaders gathered for their official photo.
The prime minister’s White House visit last week was widely praised as a success after the two leaders signed a multibillion dollar deal to give the US greater access to Australia’s critical minerals reserves.
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