Sawt Falasteen - Trump says confident US to reach Philippines trade deal

"We're very close to finishing a trade deal. A big trade deal, actually," Trump said as he met Marcos in the Oval Office.

"He's a very tough negotiator. So far we're not there because he's negotiating too tough," Trump said.

But Trump, in response to questions, said he believed the two countries would ultimately reach an agreement.

"We'll probably agree on something," Trump said.

The Philippines, a former US colony and longtime ally, was among countries confronted by Trump with letters this month warning of 20 percent tariffs on all their goods coming into the United States as of August 1 -- up from a previous threat of 17 percent.

The trade rift comes despite increasingly close defense relations between the United States and the Philippines, which has seen high tensions with China.

The United States last year under former president Joe Biden deployed ground-launched missiles in the Philippines.

Washington has also eyed ammunition manufacturing in the Philippines, despite the closure in 1992 of the US naval base at Subic Bay due to heavy public pressure.

"All of what we consider part of the modernization of the Philippine military is really a response to the circumstances that surround the situation in the South China Sea," Marcos said.

"We are essentially concerned with the defense of our territory and the exercise of our sovereign rights," he said.

"Our strongest, closest, most reliable ally has always been the United States."

China and the Philippines have engaged in a series of confrontations in the contested waters, which Beijing claims almost entirely, despite an international ruling that the assertion has no legal basis.

J.AbuShaban--SF-PST