Donald Trump has cancelled a dinner with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, but found time to meet a ruthless leader who only days ago boasted about killing someone as a teenager.
President Trump is setting aside time to mingle with his 72-year-old Filipino counterpart Rodrigo Duterte, who is behind a brutal campaign that has killed more than 7000 suspected drug users and dealers.
The two leaders, who are both in their seventies, met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Manila.
But unfortunately for Malcolm Turnbull, his plans to chat with leader of the free world were scuppered after President Trump cancelled a dinner the pair had scheduled in.
Donald Trump has found time to have dinner with ruthless Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte
![Malcolm Turnbull (fourth from the left) joins hands with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, who links hands with Donald Trump in the presence of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Canada's Justin Trudeau and Vietnam's Nguyen Xuan Phuc (far left)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/13/12/464AB2FB00000578-5077359-image-a-67_1510577208085.jpg)
Malcolm Turnbull (fourth from the left) joins hands with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, who links hands with Donald Trump in the presence of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Canada’s Justin Trudeau and Vietnam’s Nguyen Xuan Phuc (far left)
‘When I was a teenager, I had been in and out of jail, rumble here and there,’ Mr Duterte said last week at Da Nang in Vietnam.
‘At the age of 16, I already killed someone.’
President Trump didn’t even schedule a dinner with Mr Turnbull in Vietnam, where they were both present last week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit.
However, he did promise to have dinner with the Australian prime minister in Manila, only to pull out.
![Donald Trump was oblivious to Malcolm Turnbull's offer of a handshake in New York in May](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/13/12/464DCB5600000578-5077359-image-a-66_1510577188069.jpg)
Donald Trump was oblivious to Malcolm Turnbull’s offer of a handshake in New York in May
It is reminiscent of Mr Turnbull’s awkward visit to Mr Trump’s home city of New York in May, when the American president was photographed being oblivious to his Australian counterpart’s offer of a handshake.
Mr Turnbull was allocated just 30 minutes with President Trump, after earlier being promised something a little more substantial.
It was also the first time they had met in person, following a terse January phone call where President Trump reportedly shouted at Mr Turnbull as the two leaders clashed over a refugee agreement Australia had struck with the previous Obama administration.
Senior U.S. officials had told the Washington Post that President Trump abruptly hung up on Mr Turnbull after just 25 minutes – when the pair were meant to speak for an hour.
![Donald Trump didn't press Rodrigo Duterte on human rights abuses during their meeting](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/13/13/464B6A4400000578-5077359-image-a-76_1510579547432.jpg)
Donald Trump didn’t press Rodrigo Duterte on human rights abuses during their meeting
![U.S. President Donald Trump smiles with other leaders, including Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/13/13/464B00E600000578-5077359-image-a-77_1510579676563.jpg)
U.S. President Donald Trump smiles with other leaders, including Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte
The American president had reportedly told Mr Turnbull the conversation was ‘the worst call by far’ he had taken that day, after ‘boasting’ about pleasant exchanges with Russian President Vladimir Putin and three other world leaders.
President Trump reportedly ranted about the deal the Obama administration struck with Canberra to take 1250 genuine refugees from Nauru and Manus Island, telling Mr Turnbull: ‘I don’t want these people.’
It was the ‘worst deal ever’, he told the prime minister, complaining he was ‘going to get killed’ politically for following through on the resettlement agreement.
The leader of the free world, it appears, was much gentler with Mr Duterte in Manila, failing to mention reports that 7000 suspected drug users and dealers were killed in his first year in office.
![Malcolm Turnbull was possibly wondering why Rodrigo Duterte was given more time with Donald Trump during their meeting at the 31st ASEAN forum in Manila](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/11/13/13/464B192700000578-5077359-image-a-78_1510579897996.jpg)
Malcolm Turnbull was possibly wondering why Rodrigo Duterte was given more time with Donald Trump during their meeting at the 31st ASEAN forum in Manila
‘The issue of human rights did not arise. It was not brought up,’ Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque told reporters after the 40-minute meeting.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said afterward that the conversation ‘focused on ISIS, illegal drugs, and trade’.
She said that ‘human rights briefly came up in the context of the Philippines’ fight against illegal drugs,’ but Roque insisted Duterte had broached the subject of the ‘drug menace’ in the Philippines himself.
‘It was President Duterte who brought up with President Trump the drug menace in the Philippines, and the US president appeared sympathetic and did not have any official position on the matter but was merely nodding his head,’ Roque said.
Duterte also shocked the international community earlier this year when he said he would allow his own son to be killed if he was found to be dealing drugs.