Trump Announces Trade Deal with Philippines

The U.S. has reached a trade deal with the Philippines following a meeting Tuesday between President Donald Trump and the country’s president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., at the White House, Trump announced on social media.

“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 president wrote on Truth Social.

According to Trump, the U.S. will impose a 19 percent tariff on imports from the Philippines, higher than the 17 percent “reciprocal” duty the U.S. briefly imposed in April but slightly lower than the 20 percent tariff he threatened in a letter earlier this month.

“In addition, we will work together Militarily. 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,” Trump wrote in his post.

The final terms of the deal have yet to be officially confirmed by the Marcos government, nor did the White House provide further details on the agreement.

The White House did, however, release more information on a separate framework for an agreement with neighboring Indonesia that he first touted last week.

Like the purported agreement with the Philippines, the framework with Indonesia keeps in place a substantial, 19 percent tariff on exports.

“This Deal is a HUGE WIN for our Automakers, Tech Companies, Workers, Farmers, Ranchers, and Manufacturers. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!," Trump wrote in a separate post to Truth Social, hours after announcing the deal with the Philippines. He also said Indonesia agreed to eliminate “99%” of their tariff barriers to become an “Open Market to American Industrial and Tech Products, and Agricultural Goods.”

Senior officials told reporters on a call Tuesday that Indonesia agreed to address several trade issues the Trump administration had identified in the negotiations, including lifting export restrictions on critical minerals, recognizing certain U.S. federal motor vehicle safety standards and exempting American agricultural imports from certain licensing requirements, among other changes.

“American producers, who have long-faced high tariffs and burdensome requirements, will receive unprecedented access to Indonesia’s market and greater certainty for the digital services sector,” USTR Jamieson Greer said in a statement.

The White House also released what it described as a joint statement — though the Indonesian government did not immediately publish the agreement — saying the deal “will provide both countries’ exporters unprecedented access to each other’s markets.”

“The Agreement on Reciprocal Trade will build upon our longstanding economic relationship, including the U.S.-Indonesia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, signed on July 16, 1996,” the statement said.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto acknowledged the agreement in a post on Instagram last week, which Subianto said would lead to a “new era of mutual benefit” between the countries, but did not confirm the tariff rate.

And a report in Indonesia’s state news agency Antara raised questions about whether the Indonesian government is on the same page about the duty. Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, is quoted as saying that the “planned 19 percent tariff will no longer apply to Indonesian goods.” He also described Indonesia’s tariff rate brokered in the deal as “the lowest” among ASEAN countries despite the fact that it matches the 19 percent levy on exports from the Philippines.

The U.S. goods trade with Indonesia totaled nearly $40 billion in 2024, with the U.S. importing $28 billion in Indonesian goods. The Philippines, meanwhile, sent $14.2 billion in goods to the U.S. last year and purchased about $9.3 billion worth of American goods, according to data from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

It’s not clear, however, how much the countries stands to gain from the new agreements, which maintains a double-digit tariff rates — in the Philippines case, two percent higher than the duty Trump initially levied.

“It is sad that for the Philippines the rate even went up — as an ally it is hard to take,” said a Filipino official close to the negotiations, granted anonymity to speak freely.