Mr Rudd and American President Barack Obama were to meet for the first time at the White House early today with the world economy and the war in Afghanistan expected to be high on the agenda.

Before attending the meeting, Mr Rudd poured cold water on China's suggestion for the US dollar to lose its status as the world's key reserve currency.

The governor of the People's Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, called for the creation of a new world currency yesterday but Mr Rudd said there was no such plan for the issue to be discussed at next week's G20 meeting.

Mr Rudd's latest visit to the US started with Mr Obama's Treasury secretary giving Australia's economic policies an A-plus.

At a Wall Street Journal conference in Washington yesterday, the Prime Minister welcomed the US Government's package announced to deal with toxic debt bad loans and other financial instruments sitting on the books of banks.

The US proposal, unveiled by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, combines the efforts of government and the private sector to buy up the toxic assets backed with a government guarantee they will be bought when the market recovers.

Mr Geithner, who spoke at the function ahead of Mr Rudd, praised the Prime Minister's strategies to tackle the global financial crisis.

''Can I just add my voice to this. I think the Prime Minister is incredibly, is A-plus on these issues,'' Mr Geithner said.

''If we did what he advises, we'll all be in a better place.''

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times