WASHINGTON: Donald Trump on Wednesday praised US relations with Kuwait as he met Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabeh for talks in Washington. “Our relationship, and our bilateral relationship is very, very powerful, very strong,” the US president said during a joint press conference at the Oval Office. He described Sheikh Sabah as a “very special friend of mine,” and expressed his admiration of Kuwait and its people, the Kuwaiti state news agency KUNA reported. The two countries have had particularly close relations since US troops drove Iraqi forces from the country after Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion in 1990. Trump said: “Kuwait is a place I have known for a long time. I have many friends who live in Kuwait and in Washington and New York.” He said the US and Kuwait shared “large-scale trade” with one another and that Kuwait had been a great partner in the fight against terrorism.