Marcos flies to US to push 'greater' economic ties with Trump

Manila Bulletin

President Marcos has departed Manila for Washington in an attempt to engage United States President Donald Trump in trade talks as global tariffs loom. (Video courtesy of RTVM)  READ: https://mb.com.ph/2025/07/20/marcos-flies-to-us-to-push-greater-economic-ties-with-trump  Join this channel to get access to perks:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5664f6TkaeHgwBly50DWZQ/join   Subscribe to the Manila Bulletin Online channel! - https://www.youtube.com/TheManilaBulletin   Visit our website at http://mb.com.ph  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manilabulletin  Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/manila_bulletin  Instagram: https://instagram.com/manilabulletin  Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@manilabulletin   #ManilaBulletinOnline  #ManilaBulletin  #LatestNews

Transcript

00:00For today, I leave for an official visit to Washington, D.C. upon the invitation of the

00:08President of the United States, Donald Trump. It is my first visit to Washington following

00:14the inauguration of President Trump earlier this year. I'm happy to note that this visit

00:19is the first by an ASEAN head of state to the United States under this administration.

00:25This visit builds on the active exchanges that we have had since the assumption of the

00:30new Trump administration. These include the various bilateral meetings between our Secretary

00:36of Foreign Affairs, the U.S. Secretary of State, the visit to Manila of the U.S. Secretary of

00:42Defense in March, and also of the Director of National Intelligence last month, as well

00:49as the visits of bipartisan U.S. congressional delegations.

00:53My visit to Washington, D.C., and most importantly, my meeting with President Trump, is essential

00:59to continuing to advance our national interests and strengthening our alliance. During this

01:07visit, we will reaffirm our commitment to fostering our long-standing alliances as an instrument

01:13of peace and a catalyst of development in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.

01:20My top priority for this visit is to push for greater economic engagement, particularly

01:26through trade and investment between the Philippines and the United States. I intend to convey to

01:33President Trump and his Cabinet officials that the Philippines is ready to negotiate a bilateral

01:39trade deal that will ensure strong, mutually beneficial, and future-oriented collaborations that only the

01:46United States and the Philippines will be able to take advantage of.

01:51As with my previous visits to different countries, I expect to meet with business leaders to explore

01:58business opportunities that will help to grow our economy even more. As you will notice in the

02:07attendance of the cabinet secretaries here today, our cabinet secretaries for defense and for the economic

02:17team as well are not here simply because they are already there and have been there for a few days to

02:26prepare the groundwork for the work that we are doing whilst I am actually there. And so I expect our

02:35our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also on trade. And we will see how much

02:46progress we can make when it comes to the negotiations with the United States concerning the changes that we

02:54would like to institute so as to be able to alleviate the effects of a very severe tariff schedule on the Philippines.

03:04With that, thank you very much and good morning.

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