Peru leader Kuczynski meets Trump at White House: 'We have excellent relations'

Feb. 24 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump on Friday welcomed the latest in a parade of foreign leaders to visit the White House since his inauguration, this time hosting Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

Kuczynski, who's been Peru's head of state for just six months, visited Trump at the White House Friday afternoon and the two leaders discussed a range of issues -- from Latin American trade to Peruvian immigrants living in the United States.

"Peru has been a fantastic neighbor," Trump said. "We have had great relationships -- better now than ever before. And I have known him for quite a while through reading about the work that he has done."

"I'm happy to be in Washington. I lived here for a while. I lived in New York. We greatly respect the U.S.," Kuczynski said. "We have excellent relations, and Latin America needs to grow more, and we're going to talk about how to do that."

"And we have a problem with Venezuela," Trump added. "They are doing very poorly. And so we'll be talking about a lot of different things."

Kuczynski is scheduled to visit Princeton University in New Jersey this weekend for Alumni Day. The Peruvian president is a 1961 Princeton graduate and has a daughter who is a current student.

"For being an alumnus who did okay, I guess," Kuczynski answered Trump Friday when asked why he was visiting Princeton.

"I understand [Peru is] going to be buying quite a bit of our military -- some of our military vehicles," Trump said. "They are great vehicles. I just looked at it and we're approving it. And use them well."

Friday, Kuczynski became the latest of several world leaders to visit Trump at the White House. British Prime Minister Theresa May (Jan. 27), Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Feb. 10), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Feb. 13) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Feb. 15) have all been welcomed at the president's residence in recent weeks.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto was scheduled to visit the White House earlier this month but canceled the trip after Trump signed an executive order to begin building a large security barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border.