Philippines' President Marcos to meet Trump hoping to secure trade deal
Marcos will be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila's regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China.
"I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also on trade," Marcos said in a speech before leaving Manila. "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."
The United States had a deficit of nearly $5 billion with the Philippines last year on bilateral goods trade of $23.5 billion. Trump this month raised the threatened "reciprocal" tariffs on imports from the Philippines to 20 per cent from 17 per cent 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 Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said Marcos might be able to do better than Vietnam, with its agreement of a 20 per cent baseline tariff on its goods, and Indonesia at 19 per cent.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement of a deal with the Philippines at a lower rate than those two," Poling said.
Marcos, who arrived in Washington on Sunday, went to 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.
'Mutually beneficial' deal
Philippine officials say Marcos' focus will be on economic cooperation and Manila's concerns about the 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 Indo-Pacific.
Philippine Assistant Foreign Secretary Raquel Solano said last week trade officials have been working with US counterparts seeking to seal a "mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial" deal for both countries.
Trump and Marcos will also discuss defense and security, and Solano said the Philippine president would be looking to further strengthen the longstanding defense 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 defense 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 United States and the Philippines hold dozens of annual exercises, which have included training with the US Typhon missile system, and more recently with the NMESIS anti-ship 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 reelection.
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