Trump and Philippine leader plan to talk tariffs and China at the White House
Marcos, who met Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday, is set to become the first Southeast Asian leader to hold talks with Trump in his second term.
Marcos' three-day visit shows the importance of the alliance between the treaty partners at a time when China is increasingly assertive in the South China Sea, where Manila and Beijing have clashed over the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal.
Washington sees Beijing, the world's No. 2 economy, as its biggest competitor, and consecutive presidential administrations have sought to shift U.S. military and economic focus to the Asia-Pacific in a bid to counter China. Trump, like others before him, has been distracted by efforts to broker peace in a range of conflicts, from Ukraine to Gaza.
Tariffs also are expected to be on the agenda. Trump has threatened to impose 20% tariffs on Filipino goods on Aug. 1 unless the two sides can strike a deal.
'I intend to convey to President Trump and his Cabinet officials that the Philippines is ready to negotiate a bilateral trade deal that will ensure strong, mutually beneficial and future-oriented collaborations that only the United States and the Philippines will be able to take advantage of,' Marcos said Sunday when he was departing for Washington, according to his office.
Manila is open to offering zero tariffs on some U.S. goods to strike a deal with Trump, finance chief Ralph Recto told local journalists.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt hinted that a trade agreement with the Philippines was in the works. 'Perhaps this will be a topic of discussion,' she told reporters Monday when asked about tariff negotiations.
The White House said Trump will discuss with Marcos the shared commitment to upholding a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific.
Before a meeting with Marcos at the Pentagon, Hegseth reiterated America's commitment to 'achieving peace through strength' in the region.
'Our storied alliance has never been stronger or more essential than it is today, and together we remain committed to the mutual defense treaty,' Hegseth said Monday. 'And this pact extends to armed attacks on our armed forces, aircraft or public vessels, including our Coast Guard anywhere in the Pacific, including the South China Sea.'
Marcos, whose country is one of the oldest U.S. treaty allies in the Pacific region, told Hegseth that the assurance to come to each other's mutual defense 'continues to be the cornerstone of that relationship, especially when it comes to defense and security cooperation.'
He said the cooperation has deepened since Hegseth's March visit to Manila, including joint exercises and U.S. support in modernizing the Philippines' armed forces. Marcos thanked the U.S. for support 'that we need in the face of the threats that we, our country, is facing.'
China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have been involved in long-unresolved territorial conflicts in the South China Sea, a busy shipping passage for global trade.
The Chinese coast guard has repeatedly used water cannon to hit Filipino boats in the South China Sea. China accused those vessels of entering the waters illegally or encroaching on its territory.
Hegseth told a security forum in Singapore in May that China poses a threat and the U.S. is 'reorienting toward deterring aggression by Communist China.'
During Marcos' meeting Monday with Rubio, the two reaffirmed the alliance 'to maintain peace and stability' in the region and discussed closer economic ties, including boosting supply chains, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
The U.S. has endeavored to keep communication open with Beijing. Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met this month on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They agreed to explore 'areas of potential cooperation' and stressed the importance of managing differences.
___
Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
5 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ian Baker-Finch will retire from golf coverage on CBS
NEW YORK (AP) — Ian Baker-Finch is retiring after CBS ends its PGA Tour golf coverage next week after nearly 19 years of his friendly Australian voice contributing to the network's broadcast. Baker-Finch, best known for his British Open victory in 1991 among his 16 victories worldwide, joined CBS in 2007. He had worked the previous decade in golf announcing with ESPN and TNT. 'Golf has been an enormous part of my life,' Baker-Finch, 64, said in a statement. 'I was fortunate to compete against the best players in the game and more recently work with the very best in television.' CBS ends its 2025 coverage of the PGA Tour next week at the Wyndham Championship. 'As a major champion during his successful playing career and over three decades in broadcasting, Ian Baker-Finch distinguished himself as one of the most respected and trusted voices in golf,' said David Berson, the president and CEO of CBS Sports. 'As he announces his retirement, we'll miss his passion, insight, warmth and steady presence on the air but know he will continue to make his mark across the world of golf.' ___ AP golf:
Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Marjorie Taylor Greene warns Trump may lose MAGA base over Epstein files
Republican Senator Marjorie Taylor Greene says President Donald Trump is risking losing the support of his MAGA base if he does not follow through on his word to release the Epstein files. In an X post on Monday, Greene, a regular proponent of Trump, without mentioning the president by name, warned that if he did not release the files, his loyal supporters would turn on him. View image in full screen Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) attends U.S. President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025, in Washington, DC. Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images 'If you tell the base of people, who support you, of deep state treasonous crimes, election interference, blackmail, and rich powerful elite evil cabals, then you must take down every enemy of The People,' Taylor Greene wrote. Story continues below advertisement 'If not. The base will turn and there's no going back,' she continued. 'Dangling bits of red meat no longer satisfies. They want the whole steak dinner and will accept nothing else,' she added. If you tell the base of people, who support you, of deep state treasonous crimes, election interference, blackmail, and rich powerful elite evil cabals, then you must take down every enemy of The People. If not. The base will turn and there's no going back. Dangling bits of… — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) July 21, 2025 Her message comes weeks after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi walked back her promise to deliver documents she said the administration had, detailing the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's criminal activity, including a supposed list of wealthy, high-profile clients. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy It also comes on the heels of growing calls from powerful Republicans — including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, former vice-president Mike Pence, FBI head Kash Patel and its deputy, Daniel Bongino — to release the files. Story continues below advertisement Trump, however, has been defiant, describing supporters hung up on the Epstein files as 'weaklings' who were helping Democrats. 'I don't want their support anymore!' he said in a social media post. Last Thursday, the president found himself entangled in a new problem when The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) shared never-before-seen details of a sexually suggestive note — which the outlet says included a hand-drawn sketch of a naked woman seemingly drawn by the future president — Trump allegedly wrote to Epstein, his then friend, as part of a 50th birthday gift organized by the former financier's aide at the time, Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump denied the note was his creation and, according to the WSJ, said the letter was 'a fake thing.' 'I never wrote a picture in my life. I don't draw pictures of women,' he added. 'It's not my language. It's not my words.' Story continues below advertisement The WSJ described the drawing as including 'a pair of small arcs denotes the woman's breasts,' with the president's signature written in a 'squiggly' font below her waist and a final line that reads: 'Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.' The day's revelation — coupled with frustration from Trump-allied lawmakers on Capitol Hill — pushed Trump to abruptly reverse course and direct Bondi to try to make some of the documents in the case public. Bondi said she would seek court permission Friday to release grand jury information, but it would require a judge's approval, and she and Trump were silent on the additional evidence collected by federal law enforcement in the sprawling investigation that Bondi last week announced she would not release. On Tuesday, in what activist Al Sharpton says is a distraction tactic from 'the firestorm engulfing Trump over the Epstein files and the public unraveling of his credibility,' the president released 240,000 previously sealed FBI documents detailing its extensive surveillance of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. — With files from The Associated Press
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
'Go f--k yourself!': What Stephen Colbert and other late-night hosts had to say after Late Show cancellation
There was a show of late-night solidarity on Monday night, as The Late Show host Stephen Colbert's comrades rallied behind him after CBS said it was cancelling his program in 2026. Thursday's announcement was met with shock, as well as harsh criticism that it was indicative of the network and its parent company Paramount Global bowing to U.S. President Donald Trump, over his claims that its current affairs program 60 Minutes selectively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival Kamala Harris. Colbert has been highly critical of Trump for years, and panned the company for agreeing to a $16-million US settlement with the president earlier this month — which he said was paid to him today, though the money is to be allocated to his future presidential library. Both CBS and Colbert announced the news on Thursday, but Colbert took the opportunity in Monday night's opening monologue to question the motivation for the decision. He joked that "cancel culture had gone too far," but said he could now share his "unvarnished" opinions of Trump. "I don't care for him," Colbert joked about the president, who was a Late Show guest during his first election campaign in 2015, which was also Colbert's inaugural year on the program. The host addressed his own "blistering" critique of the settlement, which he had made on air days before the cancellation was announced. Though he didn't explicitly tie the two events together, he questioned how it could possibly be a "financial decision" when his program was the top rated in the late-night category. He recognized the network's potential constraints — especially following the multimillion-dollar payout — but also mentioned how Trump, in a post on Truth Social, celebrated the show's cancellation. "I absolutely love that Colbert got fired," Trump wrote. "His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the moron on NBC who ruined the once-great Tonight Show." Colbert's response to Trump on Monday night: "Go f--k yourself." WATCH | Colbert addresses CBS 'killing off' his show in opening monologue: Stewart savages CBS, Trump Aside from Colbert, The Daily Show 's Jon Stewart had the harshest comments for CBS. He admitted late-night TV was struggling: "We're all basically operating a Blockbuster kiosk inside of a Tower Records," he joked. But he said CBS "lost the benefit of the doubt" after the settlement, which others at the network and across the industry have criticized and tied to Paramount Global's pending merger with movie and TV studio Skydance. "Was this purely financial or maybe the path of least resistance to your $8-billion [US] merger?" said Stewart, adding that Paramount Global also owns the network he works for, Comedy Central. "But understand this. Truly, the shows that you now seek to cancel, censor and control — a not-insignificant portion of that $8-billion value came from those f--king shows," he said before leading a chorus of "go f--k yourself" aimed at companies, advertisers and law firms that "bend the knee" to Trump. WATCH | Questions swirl around cancellation of Late Show: Why CBS axed The Late Show: Ratings or politics? 4 days ago A little love from Letterman? Colbert first dipped his toes into the late-night waters alongside Stewart on The Daily Show from 1999 to 2005, before launching his own Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report, which ran for 10 years. He eventually landed his current gig after the original Late Show host, David Letterman, retired. Though Letterman has not made any official statement, he appeared to take a stance on Monday. A 20-minute video appeared on his YouTube channel, with a montage of clips featuring him mocking CBS on Late Show with David Letterman over the years. Letterman launched the venerable talk show in 1993, moving to CBS from NBC, where he had hosted Late Night with David Letterman, airing after The Tonight Show for 11 years. WATCH | Letterman mocks CBS over the years: Over at NBC, Jimmy Fallon joked Monday night that he was still the host of The Tonight Show, "at least for tonight." Fallon applauded Colbert's run as Late Show host, but took a lighter tone, joking that boycotts could cause CBS to lose millions of viewers, as well as "tens of hundreds watching on Paramount Plus." Host Jimmy Kimmel is currently on summer break from his show on ABC, although he reacted to the situation on Instagram last week, saying, "F--k you and all your Sheldons CBS," referencing the character Sheldon Cooper on the CBS sitcoms The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon. Colbert got no love, however, from one top-rated late-night (late-evening, really) host: Fox News Channel's Greg Gutfeld, whom Trump praised in his post celebrating the Colbert cancellation, and who hosts the show Gutfeld! Gutfeld dismissed claims that Colbert was being censored, saying CBS is "free to fire someone who's stinking up a market like they took a dump in the produce section." He also touted that his show draws higher ratings than Colbert's (though this could also be because his show airs about an hour and a half before the major late-night programs). It should come as little surprise that Gutfeld, a right-wing comedian and commentator, took swipes at Colbert, as Fox News Channel is generally favourable to Trump. But as Stewart noted in his rant, Trump is also suing Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp owns both Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, over the latter publication's story about a crude letter the president purportedly wrote in 2003 to the now-deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
