The Philippines expect its existing defense agreements with the United States to survive the Trump administration in the first tumultuous months, the Manila’s ambassador in the United States said yesterday.
Speaking during a forum with foreign correspondents in Manila, Jose Manuel Romualdez said that the existing defense agreements between the two security allies, which include vast joint military exercises and patrols of the disputed southern China Sea, had to remain in place.
“All this will remain,” said Romualdez, according to the Associated Press. “I am convinced that it will be the case.”
During the forum, the envoy said that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was eager to meet US President Donald Trump and is ready to go to Washington as soon as he is free for a meeting. A meeting could take place in the coming months, he added.
Many American allies and partners have been unstable by the first two months of President Trump in power, who saw his administration adopt heartbreaking changes to the national and international status quo. Among these are the imposition of tariffs on close economic partners, the promulgation of a 90-day freeze on foreign aid and a spectacular change in American politics to the Russian-Ukraine war. In some circles, these changes – in particular the treatment of Ukraine in the first weeks of the Trump administration – raised questions about the depth of American engagement towards its Asian allies and partners.
However, the first indications are that the Philippines could survive the turbulent transition to Trump 2.0 relatively unscathed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met the Foreign Affairs Secretary of the Philippines, Enrique Manalo, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 14 and “not only reaffirmed the American commitment to the United States-Philippines Alliance, but noted his enthusiasm for the creation of an even more invested and sustainable relationship,” said a spokesperson for the Department of State.
The discussions “included the ongoing bilateral coordination on the fight against destabilizing actions of China in the Southern China Sea” as well as “the increase in economic cooperation on infrastructure, critical minerals, information technologies and energy”.
Then, on February 22, Reuters reported that $ 336 million in security aid aimed at modernizing the military and the Filipino Coastal Guard had been exempt from freezing the Trump administration’s foreign aid, probably due to its importance for the American objective to curb the China China aggressive deployment model.
Speaking yesterday, Romualdez said that this money was one of the $ 500 million in security aid that the Biden administration announced last year, aimed at strengthening the country’s external defense capacity in the face of China’s actions. Then, American Secretary of State Antony Blinken described aid as a “unique investment in a generation”.
“We hope that the following funds will be made available to us in the next two years,” said Romualdez.
Romualdez, a cousin in the second which was a ambassador to Washington during Trump’s first term, added that the Philippines were looking to import liquefied natural gas from the United States as part of a “giving and taking” on trade-a clear attempt to put himself on the right side of the administration in the light of his persistent trade in the United States. Compared to neighbors such as Indonesia, Malaysia or Vietnam, the surplus of the Philippines is modest, totaling only $ 4.9 billion last year. However, it increased by 21.8% compared to 2023, according to the office of the American commercial representative, and in the light of recent events, it would be stupid to assume that this will not draw the attention of the Trump administration.
All this is a good indication that the administrations of Manila and Washington are aimed at the continuity of their relationships. The way the relationship is developing during the Trump administration depends largely on the contours of American relations with China.