Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
Harriet Agerholm

US President-elect Donald Trump invites Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte to 'visit White House next year'

US President-elect Donald Trump shared a telephone call with Rodrigo Duterte and invited him to visit the White House next year during a "very engaging, animated" talk, an aide to the Philippines leader has said.

The call lasted just over seven minutes, the President of the Phillipine's special advisor, Christopher Go, said in a text message to media.

Mr Go, Duterte's longtime aide and better known as "Bong Go", said the Philippines president had invited Trump to come to his country next year when it is chair of a series of summits of the Association of South East Asian Nations 

Mr Duterte has previously told President Barack Obama to "go to hell" and once allegedly called him a "son of a whore".

As part of his violent war on drugs in the Phillipines, around 3,000 people have been killed.

Mr Duterte won a May election by a huge margin and is often compared with President-elect Trump, having himself been the alternative candidate from outside of national politics.

He campaigned on a populist, anti-establishment platform and struck a chord among ordinary Filipinos with his promises to fix what he called a broken country.

Following the shock election of the property tycoon as US President, the controversial Filipino leader congratulated him, saying: “Long live Mr Trump! We both curse at the slightest reason. We are alike,” he said.

Additional reporting by Reuters

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.