Trump, who spoke of the strong ties between the US and the Philippines, also praised Manila’s hosting of this year’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit.
“We very much appreciate the great treatment you have given us. I thought last night’s event was fantastic. Tremendous talent,” Trump said, referring to Sunday’s Asean Summit gala dinner, which featured several performers.
Duterte said the Philippines remains Washington’s top ally in the region.
“We are your ally. We are an important ally,” Duterte told Trump at the beginning of their talks.
“We’ve had a great relationship. This has been very successful. And the Asean conference has been handled beautifully by the President in the Philippines,” he added.
This is the first formal meeting between the two leaders since they assumed office last year.
Rights groups had called on Trump to end his Asian journey with a strong statement against Duterte’s drugs war, which has seen police and suspected vigilantes kill thousands of drug suspects.
But Trump and Duterte had a series of encounters on Sunday night and Monday morning in which they appeared to enjoy each others’ company, leading to warm praise from the US president during official talks at lunchtime.
“I’ve really enjoyed being here,” Trump said.
As the reporters were being escorted out of the room, one asked if Trump would raise the issue of human rights, to which Duterte jokingly called the media “spies,” and neither answered.
Describing the talks between the two leaders as “frank,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque later said that human rights issues were not raised.
“The issue of human rights did not arise. It was not brought up. It was President Duterte who discussed 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, merely nodding his head, indicating that he understood the domestic problem that we face on drugs,” Roque said.
Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee Sanders, White House press secretary, however, did say that the issues were taken up, but in the context of the Philippines’ “fight against illegal drugs.”
While President Trump was speaking, members of the press pool witnessed an aide to President Duterte handing him a pill, which he swallowed with water from a stemmed glass. It was not clear what kind of pill it was.
In their 40-minute discussion, the two leaders touched on matters of mutual interest, such as trade and the economy. Duterte expressed his appreciation for the inclusion of the Philippines in the Generalized System of Preferences implemented by the US and suggested that a free trade agreement also be concluded between the two countries.
Trump is in the Philippines with leaders of 18 other nations for two days of summits, the final leg of a headline-grabbing Asian tour dominated by the North Korean nuclear crisis.
Allegations of Russian meddling in last year’s US presidential elections have dogged the second half of his 12-day trip, which has taken him from Japan to South Korea, China and Vietnam.
Duterte’s spokesman later said the meeting lasted for more than 40 minutes, and that Trump did not raise any human rights concerns.
Duterte won elections last year after promising to eradicate illegal drugs with an unprecedented campaign that would see up to 100,000 people killed.
Since he took office, police have reported killing 3,967 people in the crackdown.
Another 2,290 people have been murdered in drug-related crimes, while thousands of other deaths remain unsolved, according to government data.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Manila on Monday to protest against the two men. They were met by riot police and water cannon.
Many Filipinos back Duterte, believing he is taking necessary measures to fight crime, but rights groups warn he may be orchestrating a crime against humanity.
Amnesty International accuses police of shooting dead defenseless people and paying assassins to murder addicts.
When pressured over allegations of extrajudicial killings carried out by police, Duterte insists he has never told them to break the law.
But rights groups say police are following Duterte’s incitements to kill, including comments made last year when he said he would be “happy to slaughter” three million addicts.
He has also repeatedly boasted about killing people himself, most recently last week while in Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific economic summit.
“At the age of 16, I already killed someone. A real person, a rumble, a stabbing. I was just 16 years old. It was just over a look,” Duterte said.
Former US president Barack Obama was one of many prominent critics of Duterte’s handling of the drugs war. The Philippine leader responded last year by calling Obama a “son of a whore.”
Relations between the Philippines and the United States, longtime allies bound by a mutual defense treaty, deteriorated sharply as Duterte turned towards China and Russia.
Duterte last year declared the Philippines’ “separation” from the United States.
But Trump told Duterte in a telephone call in April that he was doing a “great job,” which helped to begin a diplomatic thaw.
“We are your ally. We are an important ally,” Duterte said on Monday, appearing to confirm relations were back on track, although he has also continued to court China and Russia.
Duterte and Trump sat next to each other at a pre-summit banquet on Sunday, during which they smiled, chatted and clinked champagne glasses.
Duterte is hosting the world leaders because the Philippines holds the rotating chair of the 10-nation Asean.
The events on Monday and Tuesday in Manila are two separate Asean-hosted summits, which also include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The rising threat of the Islamic State group across Southeast Asia, and further efforts to pressure North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to abandon his nuclear ambitions, were top agenda items in Manila.
“Terrorism and violent extremism endanger the peace, stability and security of our region because these threats know no boundaries,” Duterte said in an opening ceremony speech on Monday.