WASHINGTON: The United States has reached a trade deal with the Philippines, President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday, adding that the deal will see the US tariff on goods from the Southeast Asian country lowered to 19 percent.
“We concluded our Trade Deal, whereby The Philippines is going OPEN MARKET with the United States, and ZERO Tariffs,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform after welcoming counterpart Ferdinand Marcos to the White House.
Trump agreed to reduce threatened tariffs on the Philippines, but only by one percentage point, after what he termed a successful meeting with his counterpart Ferdinand Marcos.
Welcoming Marcos to the White House, Trump called him a “very tough negotiator” and said: “We’re very close to finishing a trade deal — a big trade deal, actually.”
In a social media post shortly afterward, Trump said that while the Philippines would open up completely to US goods, he would still impose a 19 percent tariff on products from the Philippines, a major exporter of high-tech items and apparel.
The Philippines was among two dozen economies confronted by Trump with letters this month warning of 20 percent tariffs on all goods coming into the United States as of August 1.
The 19 percent rate is still above the 17 percent threatened by Trump in April, when he threatened sweeping global tariffs.
The trade rift comes despite increasingly close defence relations between the United States and the Philippines.
“All of what we consider part of the modernisation of the Philippine military is really a response to the circumstances that surround the situation in the South China Sea,” Marcos said next to Trump.
“We are essentially concerned with the defence of our territory and the exercise of our sovereign rights,” said Marcos.
“Our strongest, closest, most reliable ally has always been the United States.”
Trump has frequently questioned allies over their military spending, pondering why the United States should defend them in the NATO alliance.
He has voiced fewer doubts about the Philippines. Both Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in meetings with Marcos on Monday, vowed to honour the 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty with the Southeast Asian nation.
The Trump administration has identified China as the top US adversary, but the US president has also boasted of his relationship with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Speaking alongside Marcos, Trump said he would “probably” visit China at Xi’s invitation “in the not-too-distant future.”
He said of Marcos: “I don’t mind if he gets along with China very well, because we’re getting along with China very well.”
