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From the White House on Monday, US President Donald Trump spoke enthusiastically about his country's friendship with Australia.
"We've been long-term allies and I would say there's never been a better person," Trump told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in their first official meeting.
"We have fought wars together and we have never had doubts," he said.
However, Australia, perhaps for the first time in its history, is feeling some slowdown.
The US has historically been seen as its best friend, the ultimate ally.
Before Albanese flew to Washington for the meeting, which he has been desperately trying to organize for months, he said it was an important opportunity to "consolidate and strengthen" the relationship.
"Australia and the United States have stood shoulder to shoulder in every major conflict for more than a century," he said in a statement.
But in a world order that is challenging Washington's dominance and under an administration that is straining many of its ties, Australia is taking a more critical look at the relationship.
"The Trump administration is clearly destroying some of those old and unexamined beliefs about the reliability of the United States as an ally," Sam Roggeveen, of the Australian think tank Lowy Institute, told the BBC.
Trump's first term was a challenge for Australia, and few expected his second to be much different. An election campaign earlier this year was in many ways hijacked by the question of how each incoming prime minister would deal with the president.
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