Philippines' Marcos to meet Trump seeking trade deal
Marcos will be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump during the US leader's second term.
Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila's regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in negotiations even with close allies that Washington wants to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China.
'I expect our discussions to focus on security and defence, of course, but also on trade,' Marcos said in a speech before leaving Manila and arriving in Washington on Sunday, with hopes to reach a deal before August 1, when Trump says he will impose 20 percent tariffs on goods from the Philippines.
'We will see how much progress we can make when it comes to the negotiations with the United States concerning the changes that we would like to institute to alleviate the effects of a very severe tariff schedule on the Philippines,' Marcos said.
The US had a deficit of nearly $5bn with the Philippines last year on bilateral goods trade of $23.5bn.
Trump this month raised the threatened 'reciprocal' tariffs on imports from the Philippines to 20 percent from 17 percent threatened in April.
Although US allies in Asia such as Japan and South Korea have yet to strike trade deals with Trump, Gregory Poling, a Southeast Asia expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Marcos might be able to do better than Vietnam, with its agreement of a 20 percent baseline tariff on its goods, and Indonesia at 19 percent.
'I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement of a deal with the Philippines at a lower rate than those two,' Poling told the Reuters news agency.
Marcos visited the Pentagon on Monday morning for talks with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and will see Secretary of State Marco Rubio later in the day, before meeting Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
He will also meet US business leaders investing in the Philippines.
Philippine officials say Marcos's focus will be on economic cooperation and Manila's concerns about Trump's tariffs.
They say he will stress that Manila must become economically stronger if it is to serve as a truly robust US partner in the Asia Pacific.
Philippine Assistant Foreign Secretary Raquel Solano said last week that trade officials have been working with US counterparts seeking to seal a 'mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial' deal for both countries.
China tensions
Trump and Marcos will also discuss defence and security, and Solano said the Philippine president would be looking to further strengthen the longstanding defence alliance.
Philippine media quoted Manila's ambassador to Washington, Jose Manuel Romualdez, as saying on Sunday that the visit would see a reaffirmation of the seven-decade-old mutual defence treaty and 'discussions on how we can continue to cooperate with the United States, our major ally'.
With the Philippines facing intense pressure from China in the contested South China Sea, Marcos has pivoted closer to the US, expanding access to Philippine military bases amid China's threats towards Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by Beijing.
The US and the Philippines hold dozens of annual exercises, which have included training with the US Typhon missile system, and more recently, with the NMESIS antiship missile system, angering China.
Manila and the US have closely aligned their views on China, Poling said, and it was notable that Rubio and Hegseth made sure their Philippine counterparts were the first Southeast Asian officials they met.
Poling said Trump also seemed to have a certain warmth towards Marcos, based on their phone call after Trump's re-election.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump wades in on Thailand-Cambodia fighting during golf visit in Scotland
United States President Donald Trump says he has spoken with the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand in a bid to end their border fighting, on the second day of his golfing trip in Scotland, where he owns and is promoting two courses. 'Just spoke to the Prime Minister of Cambodia relative to stopping the War with Thailand,' said Trump in a post on his Truth Social network on Saturday. Trump, who was playing at his Turnberry resort with son Eric and US ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens, said soon after in a new post, 'I have just spoken to the Acting Prime Minister of Thailand, and it was a very good conversation.' On Saturday, the death toll on both sides stood at 32, with more than 130 injured. Trump's announcement came as clashes, now in their third day, continued in the countries' coastal regions where they meet on the Gulf of Thailand, about 250 kilometres (160 miles) southwest of the main front lines. Tensions flared over long-contested ancient temple sites before fighting spread along the countries' rural border region, marked by a ridge of hills surrounded by wild jungle and agricultural land where locals farm rubber and rice. The decades-old conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, centred around a contested section of their shared border, re-erupted on Thursday after a landmine explosion along the border wounded five Thai soldiers. 'Thailand, like Cambodia, wants to have an immediate Ceasefire, and PEACE,' said Trump on Saturday. 'I am now going to relay that message back to the Prime Minister of Cambodia. After speaking to both Parties, Ceasefire, Peace, and Prosperity seems to be a natural. We will soon see!' Trump also indicated he would not move forward on trade deals with either nation until fighting has stopped. 'Even though he has Scottish roots, he's a disgrace' Trump's visit to Scotland, where his late mother hailed from, has met protests, both at the golf course where he is playing and elsewhere around the UK. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on Saturday in front of the US Consulate in the capital Edinburgh. Speakers told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and criticised British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff US tariffs on goods imported from the UK. 'The vast majority of Scots have this sort of feeling about Trump that, even though he has Scottish roots, he's a disgrace,' said Mark Gorman, 63. Gorman, who works in advertising, said he came out 'because I have deep disdain for Donald Trump and everything that he stands for.' Protests also took place in other cities as environmental activists, opponents of Israel's war on Gaza, staunchly supported by the Trump administration, and pro-Ukraine groups loosely formed a 'Stop Trump Coalition'. 'I think there are far too many countries that are feeling the pressure of Trump and that they feel that they have to accept him and we should not accept him here,' said June Osbourne, 52, a photographer and photo historian. 'I don't think I could just stand by and not do anything,' said Amy White, 15, of Edinburgh, who attended with her parents. She held a cardboard sign that said 'We don't negotiate with fascists.' Other demonstrators held signs of pictures with Trump and Jeffrey Epstein as the feeding frenzy in the US media, and backlash from his MAGA base, over files in the case has increasingly frustrated the president. At a protest Saturday in Aberdeen, Scottish Parliament member Maggie Chapman told the crowd of hundreds: 'We stand in solidarity, not only against Trump but against everything he and his politics stand for.' While golf is the main purpose of his trip, Trump also plans to talk trade with Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president. The Trump family will also visit another one of their courses near Aberdeen in northeastern Scotland, before returning to Washington on Tuesday.
Al Jazeera
11 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump in Scotland: How's his trip going and what's on the agenda?
When Donald Trump re-won the United States presidency in last year's election, the Dumfries and Galloway News in Scotland greeted the news with this headline: 'South West Scotland Hotelier Becomes President Of America For Second Time'. That more playful approach – a sign that the locals thought Trump, who owns luxury golf courses in Scotland, an amusement – now seems to have soured. The National, Scotland's pro-independence newspaper, greeted his arrival for a four-day visit this week with the following headline: 'Convicted US Felon To Arrive In Scotland'. So why is Trump visiting Scotland, and what's on the agenda for his trip? How has Trump been received in Scotland? Trump's links to Scotland go back to his mother. While his father, Fred, was the son of German immigrants, Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was a Scottish immigrant to the US – born in the village of Tong on the Isle of Lewis. Trump has made much of this connection and his love of Scotland, in general, while also making grand pledges about what his golf courses will do for tourism there. On Friday, he arrived in the small Ayrshire village of Turnberry, where he headed off for some golf, before a meeting with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer for talks on trade on Monday. Trump Turnberry has two golf championship courses – the Ailsa (four times host to the Open Championship) and King Robert the Bruce. Turnberry, a tiny place of about 200 people, may have seemed like a good spot to escape wider troubles, as well. Trump still can't shake off speculation, including from many in his MAGA fan base, about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Last week, the Wall Street Journal claimed Trump had sent Epstein a birthday note featuring a naked woman and text which read: 'Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.' It reported that a book given to Epstein in 2003 included letters from both Trump and Bill Clinton. On Friday, a Scottish reporter shouted at Trump: 'Are you in Scotland to escape legal problems?' He didn't reply. Some people also turned up to protest against his visit to Scotland on Friday. One protester in Turnberry was holding a sign that read: 'Scotland hated Trump before it was fashionable.' Other protest signs were less polite. Stephen Flynn, a Scottish National Party MP who is notably bald, said he wouldn't meet Trump since he would be busy 'washing his hair'. Dominic Hinde, an author and journalist based in Glasgow, said: 'Scotland doesn't need to kowtow to the White House in the way that the Westminster bubble does. We can afford to be rude in a way that Keir Starmer can't. He played on his Scottish routes and expected to be welcomed like a king every time. His reception has only got worse and worse. We don't want much to do with his kind of politics.' Because of this fuss and an assassination attempt during his election campaign last year, Turnberry became temporary home to 5,000 police officers, army trucks and road checkpoints on Friday. This is the biggest and most expensive security operation since the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Trump also plans to visit his golf course in Balmedie, near Aberdeen, as well as a new course set to open in August, during his four-day trip that is due to end on July 29. Why are some Scots angry with Trump? A dispute between Trump and local people began 14 years ago over a plan to build wind turbines that would be visible from his golf course in Aberdeenshire. He wanted them halted, calling them 'monstrosities' that would only hurt tourism. He failed to stop the wind farms, but he remains against both wind and solar power. During previous talks, Trump has asked Starmer to ditch wind and ramp up oil production. He claims offshore wind turbines are 'driving the whales crazy'. But around half of all Scotland's electricity comes from wind. Trump's golf course in Aberdeenshire has also proved controversial. Conservation groups say the course has destroyed nearby dunes. The course has also struggled to make a profit or employ as many people as had been hoped. The Stop Trump Scotland protest group made its opposition to him clear on Friday. It said: 'The people of Scotland don't want to roll out a welcome mat for Donald Trump, whose government is accelerating the spread of climate breakdown around the world.' What will Trump discuss with the UK's prime minister? Talks with Keir Starmer will centre on refining a US-UK trade deal made in June, which set a 10 percent tariff on British goods going to the US. It also expanded access to US goods in the British market and set tariffs on the first 100,000 UK vehicles exported to the US annually at 10 percent, compared with 25 percent for other countries. In 2024, the UK shipped about 106,000 cars worth 9 billion pounds ($12.1bn) – including luxury brands such as Jaguar, Rolls Royce and Aston Martin, to the US, according to car manufacturers and the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS). The UK is now hoping to have a 25 percent tariff on UK steel and aluminium lowered, although that already compares favourably with a 50 percent duty for the rest of the world on the same goods. Philip Shaw, an economist at Investec in London, said: 'The UK is in a relatively good position in that Trump has raised most tariffs on UK exports by only 10 percent and that Britain is facing a 10 percent tariff on most of its car exports, and not 25 percent levies, as the majority of other countries are. A good result would be a tariff-free trade deal, but that would be difficult to achieve in normal circumstances, let alone now.' Trump has claimed that the UK gets a better deal than other large economies, saying at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in June: 'The UK is very well protected. You know why? Because I like them. That's their ultimate protection.' On Friday Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: 'It's in Britain's national interest to have strong relations with the US administration and as a result of both that long-term special relationship, but also more importantly, the work that our Prime Minister Keir Starmer has done in building that relationship with President Trump has meant that we were the first country in the world to secure a trade deal.' However, Kathleen Brooks, research director at UK investment group XTB, said: 'While the UK was 'blessed' with an early trade deal, it has not helped the UK's economic predicament, as yet. 'The fact Trump has come to Scotland as the EU continues to wait for confirmation about its tariff rates with the US is interesting. Trump also has golf courses in Ireland, so his choice to visit Scotland could be seen as a rebuttal to the EU. It could also deflect some of the furore over the Epstein scandal.' Some Trump acolytes have been critical of the UK in general, saying it lacks freedom of speech and that London has 'no-go' zones. Starmer is thought unlikely to bring such matters up while he negotiates on trade. What else might come up? Trump is also due to meet Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who has made positive noises, saying: 'Scotland shares a strong friendship with the United States that goes back centuries. The partnership remains steadfast through economic, cultural and ancestral links – including, of course, with the president himself.' He has also pledged to raise issues beyond trade, such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Trump will be back in the UK before too long, following this visit. A state visit with First Lady Melania is planned for September 17, when the president will be expected to meet King Charles and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.
Al Jazeera
20 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
With Trump go-ahead, Skydance and Paramount to complete merger in August
The entertainment company Paramount Global is expected to close its $8bn merger agreement with Skydance Media on August 7, a date that marks two weeks after the administration of President Donald Trump gave its approval. On Friday, the two companies announced the final stage of the year-long deal, which was first announced in July 2024. The merger is considered a massive shake-up in the media landscape of the United States, drawing to a close the reign of the powerful Redstone family over the Paramount entertainment empire. But the merger has garnered even more attention in recent weeks for its political backdrop. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave the green light for the merger to go forward, after a series of moves under Paramount that were widely interpreted as concessions to the Trump administration. The FCC is technically an independent agency of the federal government, but since taking office in January for his second term, President Trump has sought to bring such agencies under his influence, including by appointing loyal allies to their leadership. That put the fate of the Paramount-Skydance merger in question, particularly given Trump's combative relationship with CBS Broadcasting Inc, one of Paramount's premier properties. Conflicts over content Trump has long taken an adversarial approach to the news media, and CBS's flagship news programmes were no exception. Some of those tensions came to a head in the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election, when Trump, a Republican, was facing off against Democratic contender Kamala Harris. The TV news magazine 60 Minutes had a tradition of interviewing each of the major party nominees for the presidency in the lead-up to the vote, and it had invited both Trump and Harris to participate. Harris accepted the invitation, but 60 Minutes said Trump cancelled. Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, disputed that characterisation. 'There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in,' Cheung wrote on social media. 'They also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented.' The back-and-forth escalated when 60 Minutes aired two different cuts from its interview with Harris. One version, which aired on a sister programme Face The Nation, featured more of Harris's answer about her stance towards Israel. The other version, which aired on the 60 Minutes broadcast, was shorter. Trump called the different edits evidence of deceptive reporting tactics and filed a lawsuit against Paramount, CBS's parent company. 'CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news,' his court filing alleged. 'That is false,' 60 Minutes responded in a statement to its website. 'When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment.' While many media experts expected Paramount to prevail on the merits of the case, the company instead sought to negotiate an end to the case. Earlier this month, it agreed to pay $16m to Trump, to go to his future presidential library. Shortly thereafter, another top CBS show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, revealed it had been cancelled, allegedly for financial reasons. But the timing and unexpected nature of the cancellation drew speculation that it might have been an attempt to appease Trump and streamline the merger, given the fact that Colbert frequently lambasted the Republican president on his show. Trump himself posted on Truth Social, 'I absolutely love that Colbert' got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.' The Late Show was consistently the top-rated late-night comedy show, and it had won a Peabody Award and multiple Emmy nods. South Park TV show takes aim Within weeks of both the 60 Minutes lawsuit settlement and the cancellation of The Late Show, the FCC gave its blessing to the merger between Paramount and Skydance. Under the merger, Skydance founder David Ellison, the son of Oracle Corporation CEO Larry Ellison, is expected to helm operations. Upon the merger's approval, Trump's appointee to lead the FCC, Brendan Carr, released a statement echoing some of the president's criticisms of major news outlets. He also hinted that the merger would result in changes to CBS's news output. 'Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,' he wrote. 'It is time for a change. That is why I welcome Skydance's commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcasting network.' 'In particular, Skydance has made written commitments to ensure that the new company's programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum.' To ensure compliance with that commitment, Carr said an ombudsman would be appointed to the media giant for a period of at least two years. Carr added that the merger between Skydance and Paramount would also bar the new mega-company from implementing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, which are designed to create an equal playing field for people regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion or ability. But hours after the FCC granted its approval, the Paramount-owned channel Comedy Central aired an episode of the animated series South Park that mocked President Trump and satirised its parent company's $16m settlement. In one scene, an animated Jesus attempts to warn the show's characters about Trump. 'The guy can do whatever he wants now that someone backed down, OK?' the animated Jesus says. 'You guys saw what happened to CBS? Yeah, well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount! You really want to end up like Colbert?' The Trump administration has since blasted the show as irrelevant.
