Australia's nuclear submarine agreement was the focus of the foreign minister's talks with her US counterpart, as a Pentagon review of the partnership nears the pointy end.
Penny Wong held discussions with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington DC overnight on tariffs, the US-Australia relationship the trilateral AUKUS agreement, which would provide Australia with nuclear submarines under a partnership with the US and UK.
Some have speculated AUKUS could be in the firing line after the US in early June launched a 30-day review into the agreement to ensure it aligned with President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda.
Senator Wong said it was not an unusual step for a new US administration.
"We had a good discussion about the work that we do together, we had a good discussion about AUKUS and a good discussion about the positive benefits of AUKUS to Australia, to the United States and to the United Kingdom," she told reporters in the US capital on Wednesday morning AEST.
The pair also spoke about deepening co-operation through AUKUS, critical minerals and regional security.
Some had expected Mr Rubio to touch on Australia's military budget, after the US urged Canberra to lift spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product and allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation agreed to increase their spending to five per cent of GDP.
But Senator Wong said Mr Rubio did not raise Australia's defence budget, and the discussions were on regional stability more broadly, with the two noting it was unfortunate to be meeting against a backdrop of global conflict.
"It has never been more important for us to harness our collective strength for peace, stability, for prosperity in the Indo-Pacific," she said.
Mr Rubio responded that the US and Australia had a "great partnership", and while it was important to discuss ideas and concepts, the next steps were "concrete action".
Their one-on-one was part of the Quad foreign leaders' summit, which also included meetings with Japan's foreign minister and India's external affairs minister.
It's the second time in six months the four-nation diplomatic partnership group has met for in-person talks.
Although Senator Wong has met with her US counterpart on several occasions, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has not and remains under pressure from the opposition to secure a meeting with Mr Trump to try and negotiate an exemption from his tariffs on Australian goods.
The two leaders were due to speak on the sidelines of the G7 summit in June in Canada, but the meeting was scrapped at the eleventh hour when Mr Trump left early due to instability in the Middle East.
Mr Rubio expressed regret over the missed opportunity, according to Senator Wong.
"I explained to him we perfectly understood why the president had to leave, given the circumstances, and we agree that we will reschedule this meeting," she said.
A date is yet to be set for the meeting, but Mr Albanese has flagged there will be many chances to meet during the upcoming global "summit season".
Senator Wong also said she had advocated "strongly" for the removal of Mr Trump's baseline tariff of 10 per cent on all Australian goods sent to the US, and a 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium.
