Marcos will be the first south east Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term.

Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs 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 says in a speech before leaving Manila.

“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.”

The US had a deficit of nearly $5 billion with the Philippines last year on bilateral goods trade of $23.5 billion.

Trump this month raised the threatened ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on imports from the Philippines to 20% from 17% 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 south east Asia expert at Washington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, says Marcos might be able to do better than Vietnam, with its agreement of a 20% baseline tariff on its goods, and Indonesia at 19%.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see an announcement of a deal with the Philippines at a lower rate than those two,” Poling says.

Marcos, who arrived in Washington yesterday, is due to hold talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today before meeting Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

He will also meet US business leaders investing in the Philippines during his trip.

--SABC--