
Philippines' Marcos to meet Trump seeking trade deal
Marcos will be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump during the US leader's second term.
Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila's regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in negotiations even with close allies that Washington wants to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China.
'I expect our discussions to focus on security and defence, of course, but also on trade,' Marcos said in a speech before leaving Manila and arriving in Washington on Sunday, with hopes to reach a deal before August 1, when Trump says he will impose 20 percent tariffs on goods from the Philippines.
'We will see how much progress we can make when it comes to the negotiations with the United States concerning the changes that we would like to institute to alleviate the effects of a very severe tariff schedule on the Philippines,' Marcos said.
The US had a deficit of nearly $5bn with the Philippines last year on bilateral goods trade of $23.5bn.
Trump this month raised the threatened 'reciprocal' tariffs on imports from the Philippines to 20 percent from 17 percent threatened in April.
Although US allies in Asia such as Japan and South Korea have yet to strike trade deals with Trump, Gregory Poling, a Southeast Asia expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Marcos might be able to do better than Vietnam, with its agreement of a 20 percent baseline tariff on its goods, and Indonesia at 19 percent.
'I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement of a deal with the Philippines at a lower rate than those two,' Poling told the Reuters news agency.
Marcos visited the Pentagon on Monday morning for talks with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and will see Secretary of State Marco Rubio later in the day, before meeting Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
He will also meet US business leaders investing in the Philippines.
Philippine officials say Marcos's focus will be on economic cooperation and Manila's concerns about Trump's tariffs.
They say he will stress that Manila must become economically stronger if it is to serve as a truly robust US partner in the Asia Pacific.
Philippine Assistant Foreign Secretary Raquel Solano said last week that trade officials have been working with US counterparts seeking to seal a 'mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial' deal for both countries.
China tensions
Trump and Marcos will also discuss defence and security, and Solano said the Philippine president would be looking to further strengthen the longstanding defence alliance.
Philippine media quoted Manila's ambassador to Washington, Jose Manuel Romualdez, as saying on Sunday that the visit would see a reaffirmation of the seven-decade-old mutual defence treaty and 'discussions on how we can continue to cooperate with the United States, our major ally'.
With the Philippines facing intense pressure from China in the contested South China Sea, Marcos has pivoted closer to the US, expanding access to Philippine military bases amid China's threats towards Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by Beijing.
The US and the Philippines hold dozens of annual exercises, which have included training with the US Typhon missile system, and more recently, with the NMESIS antiship missile system, angering China.
Manila and the US have closely aligned their views on China, Poling said, and it was notable that Rubio and Hegseth made sure their Philippine counterparts were the first Southeast Asian officials they met.
Poling said Trump also seemed to have a certain warmth towards Marcos, based on their phone call after Trump's re-election.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
Japan's PM Ishiba vows to stay in office despite election debacle
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has denied reports he plans to resign over a historic defeat his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) suffered in a weekend election, saying he wants to make sure the tariff deal struck with the United States is appropriately implemented. Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun, in an extra edition on Wednesday, said Ishiba had decided to announce his resignation by the end of July after receiving a detailed report from his chief trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, paving the way for a party leadership vote to choose his successor. Asked about media reports that he had expressed his intention to step down as early as this month, the 68-year-old leader told reporters at the party headquarters on Wednesday: 'I have never made such a statement …The facts reported in the media are completely unfounded.' The reports surfaced after Ishiba and US President Donald Trump unveiled a trade deal on Tuesday that lowers tariffs on imports of Japanese autos and spares Tokyo from punishing new levies on other goods. Ishiba had previously announced his intention on Monday to stay on to tackle pressing challenges, including tariff talks with the US, without creating a political vacuum, leading to calls from inside and outside his party for a quick resignation to respond to the election results. Ishiba has been under growing pressure to step down as the centre-right LDP and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, lost their majority in the 248-member upper house, the smaller and less powerful of the two-chamber parliament, on Sunday, shaking his grip on power and Japan's political stability. The LDP has governed almost continuously since 1955, three years after US occupation of the country in the wake of World War II ended. The bruising loss means the ruling coalition, which also lost a majority in the more powerful lower house in October, now lacks a majority in both houses of parliament, making it even more difficult for his government to achieve any policy goals and worsening Japan's political instability. Ishiba welcomed the trade agreement on Wednesday, which places a 15 percent tax on Japanese cars and other goods imported into the US from Japan, down from the initial 25 percent before the August 1 deadline, saying it was a product of tough negotiations to protect the national interest and that it would help benefit both sides as they work together to create more jobs and investment. Some analysts, however, have blasted it as 'not a good deal at all'. Seijiro Takeshita, dean at the University of Shizuoka's Graduate School of Management, Informatics and Innovation, told Al Jazeera that people should look beyond the numbers in assessing whether the trade deal is good for Japan. In Sunday's election, voters frustrated with price increases exceeding the pace of wage hikes, especially younger people who have long felt ignored by the government's focus on senior voters, rapidly turned to emerging conservative and right-wing populist parties, like the Democratic Party for the People and the 'Japanese First' Sanseito far-right group which surged in Sunday's vote. Ishiba's potential departure less than a year after taking office would trigger a succession battle within the ruling LDP as it contends with these challenges from new political parties, particularly on the right, that are chipping away at its support. Resentment has also lingered over an LDP funding scandal. 'I really hope things will get better in Japan, but the population is declining, and I think living in Japan will get tougher and tougher,' Naomi Omura, an 80-year-old from Hiroshima, told the AFP news agency. 'It is disappointing that Japan cannot act more strongly' towards the US, but 'I think it was good that they agreed on a lower tariff', she said. None of the opposition parties has shown interest in forming a full-fledged alliance with the governing coalition, but they have said they are open to cooperating on policy.


Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
How has Israel expanded battlefronts across the Middle East?
How has Israel expanded battlefronts across the Middle East? By the Numbers Video Duration 02 minutes 49 seconds 02:49 Video Duration 02 minutes 28 seconds 02:28 Video Duration 02 minutes 28 seconds 02:28 Video Duration 01 minutes 18 seconds 01:18 Video Duration 01 minutes 40 seconds 01:40 Video Duration 01 minutes 49 seconds 01:49 Video Duration 02 minutes 18 seconds 02:18


Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Malaysia's Anwar announces cash handouts in bid to ease living costs
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has announced a package of measures aimed at easing the cost of living, including a 100 ringgit ($24) cash handout for all adult citizens. In a televised address on Wednesday, Anwar said the assistance would benefit 22 million Malaysians and be redeemable at more than 4,000 stores from August 31 to December 31. Anwar said the government would also reduce the price of subsidised petrol from 1.99 ringgit per liter from 2.05 ringgit per liter for citizens, and freeze planned hikes in toll rates on 10 highways. An extra public holiday will also be scheduled for 15 September this year to coincide with Malaysia Day, the holiday marking federation, Anwar said. 'Malaysian households, especially those in the low and middle-income groups, will welcome the cost-of-living relief provided by the measures,' Yeah Kim Leng, an economics professor at Sunway University in Kuala Lumpur, told Al Jazeera. Anwar's announcement comes days before a planned rally in Kuala Lumpur to demand his resignation over rising living costs and his alleged failure to implement promised reforms. Police have said they expect up to 15,000 people to attend Saturday's protest, which was organised by the opposition Perikatan Nasional coalition.