U.S. President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the telephone on Friday with Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte and invited him to the White House next year during a “very engaging, animated” talk, an aide to Duterte said.
The call lasted just over seven minutes, Duterte’s special advisor, Christopher Go, said in a text message to media.
The conversation came amid tension and uncertainty between the United States and the Philippines after months of anti-American rhetoric from Duterte, fueled by his anger over the Obama administration’s concerns about his deadly war on drugs.
Though Duterte has spoken of his optimism for better ties with Trump in the Oval Office, it has not tempered his criticism of Washington, with almost daily tirades about what he calls U.S. “hypocrisy”.
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