President Donald Trump hosted Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. at the White House on Tuesday to discuss security in the Indo-Pacific and possibly hammer out a trade deal between the United States and its oldest regional military ally.
Marcos is the first South Asian leader to visit the White House during Trump’s second term in office. Former President Joe Biden hosted him in 2023, but maritime tension between China and the Philippines has increased since Marcos’s first visit. Chinese Coast Guard ships have taken to ramming Philippine fishing vessels and spraying crews with water cannons in disputed waterways.
On trade, Marcos is looking to avoid the 20% tariff rate on exports to the U.S. starting in August, as indicated in a July 9 letter Trump sent to the island nation. Philippine Finance Chief Ralph Recto told reporters ahead of Marcos’s trip that the Philippines would offer a 0% tariff rate on certain U.S. goods to secure a deal with the Trump administration.
“He’s very tough on negotiating,” Trump joked while greeting Marcos upon his arrival, before predicting that the two leaders would agree to a new trade deal.
Marcos is also slated to chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2026, and he is expected to invite Trump to next year’s East Asia Summit before his trip to Washington, D.C., concludes.
However, Marcos disputed the idea to reporters in the Oval Office that he’s been put in a difficult position, trying to balance his relationship with the U.S. while still pursuing growth opportunities in China.
“I don’t mind if he gets along with China, because we’re getting along with China very well. We have a very good relationship,” Trump added in the Oval Office. “I think he has to do what’s right for his country. I’ve always said, you know, make the Philippines great again. Do whatever you need to do, but you’re dealing with China, wouldn’t bother me at all.”
Before his trip to the White House, Marcos met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday.
“I believe that our alliance, between the United States and the Philippines, has played a vital role in preserving peace and maintaining stability in the South China Sea, and indeed across the entire Indo-Pacific region,” Marcos said during his Monday meeting at the Pentagon.
Hegseth added, “Our storied alliance has never been stronger or more essential than it is today, and together we remain committed to the mutual defense treaty. 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.”
Hegseth announced a $500 million commitment to modernizing the Philippine military during a trip to Manila earlier this year, which will include the deployment of U.S. military assets, joint training operations, a new cybersecurity campaign, and an agreement to cooperate on future defense production.
“The United States is 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,” Marcos said Tuesday when asked if that campaign could be viewed as an escalatory act by China. “This is an ongoing process.”
Though this marked Marcos’s first meeting with Trump in Washington, D.C., the pair spoke following Trump’s 2024 election victory and briefly saw each other at Pope Francis’s funeral in the spring.
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You can watch Trump’s comments with Marcos in full below.