US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte during a special gala celebration dinner for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Manila on Nov. 12, 2017. (Pool photo by ATHIT PERAWONGMETHA via AFP)
MANILA, Philippines—President Rodrigo Duterte has described his US counterpart, President Donald Trump, as “nice,” saying that he will not curse him.
“I would never do it to Trump, because he’s a very nice person,” Duterte said in an interview with Russian television network aired Friday, after recalling how former US President Barack Obama end up at the receiving end of his vulgar language.
“Actually Trump is a nice person. It’s just his style of doing things. But Trump does not… I do not believe that he really wants to go to war. Maybe he wants to teach some leaders also,” he added.
Previously, Duterte admitted cursing Obama after the former US leader criticized his administration’s war against illegal drugs.
The two leaders were supposed to meet on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos, but Obama canceled the engagement after Duterte called him a “son of a b****.”
“He should have brought the case to the United Nations rather than castigate a president of another country in a press con. So I got mad. So I said a lot of cuss things,” Duterte said.
Despite his cordial relation with his US counterpart, Duterte declined Trump’s invitation to a US-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Las Vegas this March.