President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a trade deal with the Philippines.
The announcement on social media came shortly after Trump met with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in the Oval Office.
“President Ferdinand Marcos, of the Philippines, is just leaving the White House, with all of his many Representatives. It was a beautiful visit, and we concluded our Trade Deal, whereby The Philippines is going OPEN MARKET with the United States, and ZERO Tariffs,” Trump wrote on TRUTH Social.
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“The Philippines will pay a 19% Tariff. In addition, we will work together Militarily,” Trump added. “It was a Great Honor to be with the President. He is Highly Respected in his Country, as he should be. He is also a very good, and tough, negotiator. We extend our warmest regards to the wonderful people of The Philippines!”
During their meeting in the Oval Office, Trump and Marcos Jr. were asked how the Phillipines would balance its relationship with the United States and China. Trump noted that he has been invited to China by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, adding, “I don’t mind if he gets along with China because we’re getting along with China very well.”
“We need to do this with our partners. And again, our strongest partner is, has always been the United States. But of course we are. We are trying to form coalitions and multilateral relations,” Marcos Jr. added.
A reporter also asked whether hosting U.S. missiles in the Philippines would be considered “escalatory” by China.
“We’re gonna have a very good relationship,” Trump said of the U.S. and the Philippines. “I know you had some problems with another president, and it was not your fault. It was the president’s fault, and the country was maybe tilting toward toward China. But we untilted did it very, very quickly. But, you know, you did have you had a country that was tilting toward China for a period of time. And I just don’t think that would have been good for you. You could deal with China. We should deal with China. But when I got elected, everything changed and they came right back to us.”
Marcos Jr. said the U.S. missiles came as part of the “modernization” of the Philippines’ military.
“We would certainly like, any kind of military spending, we would wish that it wasn’t necessary, but it is. And so that is what we are doing,” Marcos Jr. said. “The United States is assisting the Philippines in what we call our self-reliance defense program, which is to allow us to be self-reliant and to be able to stand our own two feet, whatever the circumstances that occur in the future and that, and, the reason that we have all we have encouraged, more interaction with the United States, and it is not just the United States.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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