The meeting came as Mr Trump celebrated the House passage of legislation undoing much of his predecessor Barack Obama´s health law.
US president Donald Trump has hailed ties between America and Australia, following a meeting with the country’s prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Mr Trump said “iron bonds” were forged in the waters of the Pacific during a Second World War naval battle in which both countries halted a Japanese advance.
Mr Trump said the ties were “sealed with the blood of our fathers and grandfathers” who lost their lives in the Battle of the Coral Sea.
The battle was a turning point in the war and led to an alliance between the US and Australia.
Mr Trump spoke at a gala dinner aboard the USS Intrepid in New York to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the battle.
The president said he and Mr Turnbull earlier had a “productive discussion” about issues important to their nations during their first face-to-face meeting.
Mr Trump said they talked about national security, trade and boosting economic cooperation.
Mr Trump and Mr Turnbull got off to a rocky start during their first telephone conversation in January, soon after Mr Trump took office. Mr Trump said it “got a little bit testy” but denies the tone was any harsher than that.
He said he was proud of the good relationship he has with Mr Turnbull.
The meeting came as Mr Trump made a return visit to New York City, as he celebrated the House passage of legislation undoing much of his predecessor Barack Obama’s health law.
New York has largely opposed Mr Trump, who received only 18% of the city’s vote in November’s presidential election.
Multiple modest protests were held across the city during his visit, some visible from the presidential motorcade as it roared past Wall Street and Manhattan’s famed skyscrapers.
Mr Trump’s triumphant appearance aboard the Second World War carrier came hours after Republicans celebrated the passage of their replacement health care bill, which squeaked by the House 217-213.
He said he was “so confident” that the measure would pass the Senate and vowed that premiums and deductibles would come down.
“People are suffering so badly with the ravages of Obamacare, ” Mr Trump said.
At one point the president turned to the representatives lined up behind him and, suggesting the victory was especially impressive for a novice politician, exclaimed: “Hey, I’ m president! I’ m president! Can you believe it?!”
House leaders came through with the votes to give Mr Trump a major political win more than a month after Republicans’ first attempt to pass a health care bill went down in a humiliating defeat.
Known as the American Healthcare Act, the bill has yet to receive a price tag from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office and is opposed by a number of physician and health care groups, including the American Medical Association, amid concerns it could strip millions of Americans of their coverage, including those with pre-existing medical conditions.
