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The two presidents heap praises on each other, two weeks after Trump announced a 20% tariff on Philippine goods
MANILA, Philippines — In his first visit to the White House under US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, July 22, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. took part — sometimes, passively — in a freewheeling press conference that touched on everything from bilateral security and cooperation, China, and even Trump’s axe to grind with the Democrat presidents who came before him.
But as Marcos sat beside Trump in his gilded Oval Office, the Philippine President came home with a promise — vague as it may be: that the two countries are “very close to finishing a trade deal.”
It was just over two weeks ago, on July 9, that Trump announced that the US would impose a 20% tariff on Philippine products entering their country. The figure, announced amid bilateral trade negotiations, was three percentage points higher than the 17% he had initially planned to impose on Manila. The new rate is supposed to kick in on August 1.
“He’s negotiating too tough,” Trump would later quip, drawing a chuckle from Marcos.
Yet in welcoming the Philippine leader, Trump heaped praises on Marcos, whom he described as coming from a “great family” with a “great family legacy.” Marcos is the son and namesake of a dictator who ruled the Philippines with an iron fist for over two decades.
“We’re going to be talking about trade, war and peace. They’re a very important nation militarily,” added Trump.
Marcos, wearing a barong, was just as generous with praise. “I think it is worthwhile to remember that it was President Trump who characterized the relationship between the Philippines and United States as ironclad and that has been necessarily the case since the time that you made that statement, sir… It is something that the Philippines will always hold close to its heart,” he said.
It wasn’t Trump who first described the bilateral relationship as “ironclad.” Former US president Barack Obama, who immediately preceded Trump’s first presidency, also used the term.
But it was during Trump’s first presidency that the US publicly promised that it would come to Manila’s aid if its vessels or forces are attacked in the South China Sea, according to the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).
Mutual defense, the China problem
While it was trade talks that Marcos and even Trump first highlighted, it was defense and security questions that made up a bulk of the freewheeling press gaggle inside the Oval Office.
Asked by a reporter how Manila would balance US and China ties as the chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2026, the Philippine President said there was no need.
“There is no need in a sense to balance our relationship with the US and China simply because our foreign policy is an independent one and we are concerned with the defense of our territory and exercise of our sovereign rights,” Marcos said, adding that the Philippines has been trying to form “coalitions” with “like-minded nations” who share the same values as the Philippines, intend to adhere to international law and United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and are against “anyone who has intentions to unilateral changing the world order.”
It was a barely-veiled reference to China, which claims almost all of the South China Sea, including the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, which forms part of what Manila calls the West Philippine Sea. Tensions between Manila and Beijing have been heightened in those waters, with Chinese maritime forces resorting to violence and harassment to drive Philippine vessels away.
Several features of the West Philippine Sea are flashpoints between China and the Philippines — some hotter than others.
“I don’t mind if he gets along with China, because I get along with China very well,” said Trump, also in response to the question for Marcos.
But a few minutes later, Trump quipped that the Philippines had “some problems with another president” and that “the country was tilting towards China, and we un-tilted it… and I just think that wouldn’t have been good for you.” Trump was likely referring to former president Rodrigo Duterte, who cursed former president Obama and tried to pivot away from Washington and closer to Beijing.
Although Trump claimed that the “last admin was not getting along with [the Philippines] too well,” it was under former president Joe Biden that the Philippines resumed its close cooperation with the United States.
It was Marcos who approved the expansion of military sites where the US could preposition its assets and it was under both Marcos and Biden that the bilateral relationship went on “hyperdrive.”
Marcos has visited the White House twice as President — first for a bilateral meeting with Biden, then against for a trilateral meeting between leaders of the Philippines, US, and Japan.
In the last months of the Biden administration, the US announced a $50 million foreign military financing pledge — which the Trump administration has promised would continue.
Prior to meeting Trump, Marcos met with US State Secretary Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Joining Marcos in his quick trip to the United States are Foreign Affairs Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro, Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Secretary of Trade and Investments Christina Roque, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, Acting Presidential Communications Office Secretary Dave Gomez, Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go, and Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez. – Rappler.com
