Trump Announces US-Philippines Trade Deal 'Concluded' With 19% Tariff, Hosts Prez Marcos At White House

Philippines President Marcos visited the White House on Tuesday, following which Trump announced a trade deal with Manila, stating they'll pay a 19% tariff, with US goods paying zero tariffs.

Donald Trump announced a trade deal between US and Philippines with 19 percent tariff.

Source : PTI

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he has "concluded" a trade deal with Philippines, which will now pay 19 percent tariff. This comes after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited the White House to discuss and finalise a trade agreement with the US.

"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. The Philippines will pay a 19% Tariff," Trump said after Marcos' White House visit, as reported by news agency Reuters.

Trump said the two Pacific allies would also work together militarily, calling Marcos a "very good and tough negotiator."

Marcos, who also met Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on July 21, is the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Donald Trump in his second term.

At the start of his meeting with the Philippine leader at the Oval Office, Trump said, "We're going to talk about trade today and we are very close to finishing a trade deal, a big trade deal actually."

Speaking of the relationship between the two nations, Marco said, “This has evolved into as important a relationship as is possible to have.”

The US had a deficit of nearly $5 billion with the Philippines in 2024 on bilateral goods trade of $23.5 billion. In July, Trump raised the threatened "reciprocal" tariffs on Philippine imports to 20 percent from 17 percent, which he had threatened to impose in April, Reuters reported.

According to the Philippines President office, Marcos, before heading to the US on Sunday, said that he wanted to tell Trump and his administration that "Philippines is ready to negotiate a bilateral trade deal that will ensure strong, mutually beneficial and future-oriented collaborations that only the United States and the Philippines will be able to take advantage of."

Ahead of the meeting, the White House said that Trump would discuss with Marcos the shared commitment to achieve an open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific.

US has already reached trade deals with two of Manila's regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia. 

During the Oval Office event, Trump also hinted that he may visit China "in the not-too-distant future," noting Philippines had distanced itself from Beijing after his election last November. "The country was maybe tilting toward China, but we un-tilted it very, very quickly," Reuters quoted Trump as saying.