JAKARTA - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met with US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila's status as Asia's main ally would secure a more lucrative trade deal before August 1 deadline.
Marcos will be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term.
Trump has reached a trade agreement with two regional partners Manila, Vietnam, and Indonesia, who are pushing for tough bargaining in trade negotiations and even with the close allies Washington needs to remain on its side in its strategic rivalry with China.
"I hope our discussions will focus on security and defense, of course, but also trading," Marcos said in a speech before leaving Manila.
"We will see how much progress we can achieve in negotiations with the United States regarding the changes we want to implement to ease the impact of very strict rates on the Philippines," he added.
The United States experienced a deficit of nearly $5 billion with the Philippines last year in bilateral goods trading of $23.5 billion. This month, Trump raised the threat of a "return" rate over imports from the Philippines to 20% of the 17% threatened in April.
Although US allies in Asia such as Japan and South Korea have yet to reach a trade agreement with Trump, Gregory Poling, Southeast Asian expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Marcos may be able to reach a better deal than Vietnam, with a 20% base rate deal for his belongings, and Indonesia at 19%.
"I would not be surprised to see the announcement of a deal with the Philippines at a lower rate than the two," said Poling.
Marcos, who arrived in Washington on Sunday, is scheduled to hold talks with Foreign Minister Marco Rubio and Defense Minister Pete Hegseth on Monday, July 21, before meeting Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
Marcos will also meet US business leaders investing in the Philippines during his visit.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
