Trump invites Rodrigo Duterte to the White House

The phone call also touched on Duterte’s war on drugs, in which some 7,000 people have died at the hands of vigilantes and state sanctioned death squads. Trump has previously praised the drug war.

“They also discussed the fact that the Philippine government is fighting very hard to rid its country of drugs, a scourge that affects many countries throughout the world,” the readout said.

“President Trump enjoyed the conversation and said that he is looking forward to visiting the Philippines in November to participate in the east Asia summit and the US-Asean summit. President Trump also invited President Duterte to the White House to discuss the importance of the the United States-Philippines alliance.”