But now that meeting has become the incredible shrinking summit, with Trump choosing instead to remain in Washington for a while longer to celebrate a political victory: the passage of the American Health Care Act in the House of Representatives.

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The White House had initially set aside a chunk of time early Thursday evening for the two leaders to hold a bilateral meeting ahead of their joint commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the World War II Battle of the Coral Sea at a dinner that night.

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Instead, Trump is scheduled to spend 30 minutes with Turnbull ahead of the ceremony and dinner, according to an updated schedule released by the White House.

Already, the visit was somewhat unusual for this president. Trump typically welcomes foreign leaders to Washington with ceremony, pomp and circumstance. Often they hold photo ops and joint news conferences. And in two cases, Trump has invited world leaders to his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida for meetings.

But Turnbull’s face-to-face with Trump was to take place at the Peninsula Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

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Still, the Australians appear steadfast.

“The delegation does not feel snubbed at all,” a senior Australian official said. “It certainly understands the significant legislative achievement. The program was always on the understanding of fluidity.”

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He said it was possible that Trump and Turnbull would end up meeting for longer than 30 minutes, and they will spend time together at the dinner because they will be sitting together.

“We don’t see it in any way as a diminution of access. The president is still coming to New York on a day when a lot of other things are happening,” the official said.

Australia has long been one of the closest U.S. allies in the Pacific and a partner in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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But in a phone call with Turnbull at the end of January that was cut from the anticipated hour to 25 minutes, Trump railed against an arrangement brokered by the Obama administration that would have allowed some refugees from Australian detention camps to be accepted into the United States.

“This was the worst call by far,” Trump told Turnbull, referring to the other calls he had made that day from the Oval Office.

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Trump has quickly established a reputation of pursuing diplomacy through personal relationships with world leaders — even ones who had been kept at arm’s length by previous administrations. Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, who has been accused of human rights violations, was welcomed by Trump into the White House with praise.

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But for Turnbull, Trump cut back the portion of his day devoted to repairing the relationship from an afternoon to less than an hour.

Still, observers see the meeting as a high-profile opportunity — on one of the busiest days of Trump's presidency and his first return to New York since being sworn in — to forge ahead with a reset.

“The last phone call was seen as disappointing,” said Michael Fullilove, executive director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy. “The [Australian] government would be hoping that this dinner tonight would reset the relationship.”

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“Everyone is hoping that this time, Mr. Trump makes nice,” he added.

White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump and Turnbull spoke by phone Thursday afternoon after the meeting was pushed back.

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“They’re very much looking forward to meeting later this evening,” Sanders told reporters.

The cutback comes just after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that it was important to strengthen relations with Australia. In a speech to State Department employees, Tillerson said that Australia and New Zealand are “really important partners with us on a number of counterterrorism fronts.”

Australia has been a strong supporter of U.S. foreign policy for decades. Australian forces fought in Vietnam, and Australia sent combat troops during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and still has trainers working with the army in Afghanistan. It is a member of the multinational coalition working to combat the Islamic State, and its air force has flown sorties over Syria. It has sided with the United States in Middle East affairs, voting against anti-Israel motions at the United Nations.

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Australia also participates in the “Five Eyes” arrangement that allows the United States to share espionage and intelligence information closely with certain allies in exchange for an agreement not to spy on one another.

Australia’s importance as an ally will grow as the United States strengthens its military presence in Asia. And any fraying of Australian loyalty to U.S. policies would be sure to delight China, which is Australia’s largest trading partner.

Turnbull spent part of his day touring the New York Police Department’s Joint Terrorism Task Force facility. He then met with Adm. Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, to discuss Asia-Pacific security and specifically North Korea.

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The Australian prime minister also met with Andrew Liveris, chief executive of Dow Chemical and an informal energy and economic adviser to the Trump White House.

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The Australian leader will have other meetings, including a possible visit with Australian veterans, before heading to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for the Coral Sea commemoration. He expects to see Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of 21st Century Fox and a native Australian, at the dinner, and they may be seated together with Trump. Murdoch's father, Keith Murdoch, founded the American Australian Association, which hosts the dinner commemorating the Battle of the Coral Sea every year.