In Search of Trade Deal, Philippines’ Leader Will Meet With Trump

President Trump is set to meet at the White House on Tuesday with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines, who is seeking to leverage his country’s close relationship with the United States to secure a more favorable trade deal.

Mr. Trump plans to host Mr. Marcos for lunch. The Trump administration fell well short of its goal of securing 90 trade deals in 90 days by early July, negotiating only a handful. The White House says that it has, so far, reached framework agreements with Britain, Vietnam and Indonesia, plus a trade truce that rolled back tariffs with China.

Mr. Trump has threatened higher tariffs on dozens of countries as of Aug. 1, including the Philippines, which he said would receive a 20 percent tariff. Many global leaders have been negotiating with the Trump administration in an effort to lower those tariffs further.

Before leaving for the United States, Mr. Marcos said his primary goal was to make sure that trade between the two nations was strong.

“My top priority for this visit is to push for greater economic engagement, particularly through trade and investment between the Philippines and the United States,” he said. “I intend to convey to President Trump and his cabinet officials that the Philippines is ready to negotiate a bilateral trade deal that will ensure strong, mutually beneficial and future-oriented collaborations that only the United States and the Philippines will be able to take advantage of.”

A statement from the White House said the meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Marcos would focus on a “shared commitment to upholding a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and advancing shared economic prosperity.”

“The friendship between the United States and the Philippines is rooted in our long history, marked this year by the 80th anniversary of the shared sacrifice that led to victory in World War II,” the statement said.

The Philippines is the United States’ oldest ally in the Pacific. The United States took over the Philippines as a colony from Spain in 1898 and battled Filipino combatants for control of the country. After Japan invaded the islands during World War II, Americans and Filipinos fought together to end that occupation. The Philippines gained its independence from the United States in 1946, and in 1951 entered into a mutual defense treaty with the United States that remains in effect.

The United States runs a trade deficit with the Philippines, but it is a fraction of other Southeast Asian countries’. That is why Mr. Trump, who views the trade deficit as evidence of an unfair trading relationship, decided on a lower tariff rate for the Philippines than for many of its neighbors.

The United States continues to have an interest in maintaining freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, which is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Mr. Marcos has embraced the United States, reversing a pivot to China by his predecessor, and has expanded U.S. access to military bases.

The United States has deployed a missile system called Typhon to the Philippines as part of joint military drills. The ground-based launcher can fire cruise missiles that can reach the Chinese mainland from the Philippines.

Mr. Marcos arrived in Washington on Sunday and met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon on Monday.

“I believe that our alliance, the United States and the Philippines, have formed a great part in terms of preserving the peace, in terms of preserving the stability of the South China Sea,” Mr. Marcos told Mr. Hegseth.

He has also met with U.S. business leaders about investment in the Philippines.

Ana Swanson contributed reporting.