United States President Donald Trump, paid his “highest respect” to Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, after
the leader announced his resignation on Friday. Trump also voiced concern over
his “great friend” resigning for health reasons.

Trump’s comments came,
while returning from a campaign rally in New Hampshire. “I want to pay my
highest respect to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a very great friend of
mine,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One.

“We’ve had a
great relationship and I just feel very badly about it, because it must be very
severe for him to leave,” Trump said.

 “He loves his country so much and for him
to leave, you know, I just can’t imagine what it is. He’s a great gentleman and
so I’m just paying my highest respect,” Trump added.

Abe announced earlier
he was ending his record-breaking tenure, kicking off a leadership race in the
world’s third-largest economy. He said he was suffering a recurrence of the
ulcerative colitis that forced him to cut short a first term in office, and
that he no longer felt able to continue as prime minister.

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The two leaders have
met several times during the US president’s term, and staffers have hailed the
“unprecedented” relationship between Trump and his “golf
buddy.”

A Japanese diplomat
said last year the frequency of contact demonstrated the “unprecedented
level of close personal relations” between the pair.

Trump announced in
September last year that the two allies had taken a major step towards sealing
a comprehensive new trade deal, after a year of negotiations between the global
economic powers office until the end of his term as LDP leader in September
2021.