Donald Trump announced that the US had reached a deal to levy a 19 per cent import tariff on the Philippines following what he described as a "beautiful visit" by president Ferdinand Marcos Jr to the White House.
The tariff rate is just shy of the 20 per cent Mr Trump had threatened to impose on America’s key Southeast Asian ally earlier this month but higher than the 17 per cent set when he first declared sweeping tariffs for dozens of countries in April.
Mr Marcos Jr called the trade deal with the US a "significant achievement" but noted that some details were still to be worked out.
The announcement of a loose framework of a deal comes as the two allies seek closer security and economic ties in the face of shifting geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific region.
“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 per cent Tariff," Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
He called Mr Marcos Jr a "very good and tough negotiator”.
Mr Marcos Jr, the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Mr Trump in his second term, told reporters at the start of his White House meeting that the US was his nation’s “strongest, closest, most reliable ally”.
The Philippines is faced with China's assertive presence in the South China Sea where Manila and Beijing have clashed over the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal.
Mr Trump said the "very big numbers" in the trade agreement would only grow larger. The US had a deficit of nearly $5bn (£3.7bn) with the Philippines last year on bilateral goods trade of $23.5bn (£17.3bn).
The US president has upended global trade flows by levying tariffs on nearly every trading partner, with almost all nations slapped with a 10 per cent tariff in April and many facing steep additional levies from 1 August.
Philippine officials had said Mr Marcos Jr intended to stress to Washington that Manila must become economically stronger if it was to serve as a truly robust US partner in the Indo-Pacific.
Gregory Poling, a Southeast Asia expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Reuters it was too early to say much about the Philippines trade deal since no details had been released, as was the case with similar pacts with Indonesia and Vietnam. "At the end of the day, I don't think the Philippine government is sweating the final number so long as it keeps Philippine-made goods competitive with those of its neighbors, which this does," Mr Poling said.
Mr Trump previously announced a 19 per cent tariff for Indonesia and 20 per cent for Vietnam.
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