President Donald Trump announced two trade deals Tuesday, continuing his streak of securing open markets for exported American goods while imposing strapping tariffs on Philippine and Indonesian goods.
“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,” Trump said in a TruthSocial post following his meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Trump quickly followed up with details about a massive trade deal with the republic of Indonesia made last week.
“It is agreed that Indonesia will be Open Market to American Industrial and Tech Products, and Agricultural goods, by eliminating 99% of their Tariff Barriers,” Trump said.
These deals come after Trump threatened several countries to come to the table by August 1st or face increased tariff rates.
American producers will now have access to the Philippine market completely free from tariffs, Trump said. At the same time, all Philippine imports will carry a 19% tariff — a slight reduction from the threatened 20% tariff.
The Philippines — a country with about a third of the population of the United States — ran roughly a $5 billion trade imbalance in 2024, importing $9.3 billion in U.S. goods while exporting $14.2 billion worth of goods to the United States.
The United States imports a vast amount of electronic circuits and office machine parts from the Philippines, while exporting mostly foodstuffs and integrated circuits to the Southeast Asian country, according to a 2023 report by the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
Trump recently secured a similar trade deal with Vietnam, clinching an open market for American goods while all imported Vietnamese goods will carry a 20% tariff.
Trump also floated continued military collaboration with the Philippines. “In addition,” Trump wrote, “we will work together Militarily.”
The Philippines sits in a strategic location near China and has clashed with the Chinese in recent memory.
In a Monday meeting between Marcos and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the latter said “Our storied alliance has never been stronger or more essential than it is today. … Together, we remain committed to the mutual defense treaty. And this pact extends to armed attacks on our armed forces, aircraft or public vessels, including our Coast Guard, anywhere in the Pacific, including the South China Sea.”
Hegseth added that, “We do not seek confrontation, but we are and will be ready and resolute.”
Trump praised Marcos, saying that “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. We extend our warmest regards to the wonderful people of The Philippines!”