<p>US President Donald Trump on Friday paid his "highest respect" to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and voiced concern over his "great friend" resigning for health reasons.</p>.<p>"I want to pay my highest respect to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a very great friend of mine," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned from a campaign rally in New Hampshire.</p>.<p>"We've had a great relationship and I just feel very badly about it, because it must be very severe for him to leave."</p>.<p>"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.</p>.<p>Abe announced earlier he was ending his record-breaking tenure, kicking off a leadership race in the world's third-largest economy.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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."</p>.<p>A Japanese diplomat said last year the frequency of contact demonstrated the "unprecedented level of close personal relations" between the pair.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Abe was forced to leave office just one year after becoming the country's youngest-ever prime minister but has since become Japan's longest-serving premier.</p>.<p>Speculation about his political future had intensified after two recent hospital visits for unspecified health checks, but the resignation was nonetheless a surprise.</p>.<p>He had been expected to stay in office until the end of his term as LDP leader in September 2021.</p>.<p>Even as recently as Friday morning, the government spokesman had appeared to dismiss concerns about Abe's health and suggested he would stay on.</p>
<p>US President Donald Trump on Friday paid his "highest respect" to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and voiced concern over his "great friend" resigning for health reasons.</p>.<p>"I want to pay my highest respect to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a very great friend of mine," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned from a campaign rally in New Hampshire.</p>.<p>"We've had a great relationship and I just feel very badly about it, because it must be very severe for him to leave."</p>.<p>"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.</p>.<p>Abe announced earlier he was ending his record-breaking tenure, kicking off a leadership race in the world's third-largest economy.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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."</p>.<p>A Japanese diplomat said last year the frequency of contact demonstrated the "unprecedented level of close personal relations" between the pair.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Abe was forced to leave office just one year after becoming the country's youngest-ever prime minister but has since become Japan's longest-serving premier.</p>.<p>Speculation about his political future had intensified after two recent hospital visits for unspecified health checks, but the resignation was nonetheless a surprise.</p>.<p>He had been expected to stay in office until the end of his term as LDP leader in September 2021.</p>.<p>Even as recently as Friday morning, the government spokesman had appeared to dismiss concerns about Abe's health and suggested he would stay on.</p>