President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. has “concluded” a trade deal with the Philippines that includes a 19% tariff on goods imported from the southeast Asian country.
Manila will not impose tariffs on U.S. goods as part of the deal, according to Trump, who praised the country for what he described as “going OPEN MARKET with the United States.”
“In addition, we will work together Militarily,” Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the deal, which came shortly after Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos left the White House.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., meet in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 22, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
The Philippines has yet to confirm that a deal has been struck. Neither the White House nor the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., immediately responded to CNBC’s requests for more information on Trump’s post.
In the Oval Office earlier Tuesday, Trump said, “We’re very close to finishing a trade deal. A big trade deal, actually.”
Marcos, sitting next to Trump, said his country has been forced to modernize its military due to Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.
He said the U.S. is “assisting the Philippines in what we call our self-reliance defense program, which is to allow us to be self reliant and to be able to stand our own two feet, whatever the circumstances that occur in the future.”
The Philippines was one of around two dozen nations to receive a letter from Trump this month declaring that the country would receive a new tariff rate starting Aug. 1.
Trump started sending those letters as he further delayed a mid-July deadline when his so-called reciprocal tariffs — which were briefly imposed in early April before being temporarily pared back — were set to resume in full force.
Trump has said that he considers letters to be tantamount to new bilateral trade deals. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested Monday that the letters give the U.S. leverage in negotiations, saying they “will put more pressure on those countries to come with better agreements.”
Trump’s July 9 letter to the Philippines set a 20% tariff on the country’s U.S. imports. It is unclear if the trade deal that Trump announced Tuesday negates that tariff rate.
