President Donald Trump said Tuesday he and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines have reached a trade agreement.
The agreement calls for 19% tariffs on goods coming from the Philippines, while American goods shipped there won’t be charged a tariff, Trump said in a post on Truth Social. This comes after the two leaders met in the White House on Tuesday.
“It was a beautiful visit, and we concluded our Trade Deal,” Trump wrote. However, it was not immediately apparent if the two leaders formally signed anything. Similar to other recent trade agreement announcements, few details were revealed.
Earlier Tuesday in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters he was not ready to make a trade deal with Marcos because “he’s negotiating too tough.” But he said they’d “probably agree to something.”
The agreement is somewhat unusual given that other countries Trump claims to have reached agreements with call for lower tariff rates compared to levels the president threatened to impose in April. Meanwhile, goods from the Philippines were charged a minimum 17% “reciprocal” tariff in April before Trump paused those. Earlier this month, he threatened a 20% tariff on goods from the Philippines as of August 1.
The US imported $14 billion worth of goods from the Philippines last year, according to data from the US Commerce Department. Top goods shipped from there include computers and other electronics, processed foods, machinery and apparel. Meanwhile, the US exported $9 billion worth of Filipino goods. Computers and other electronics, as well as processed foods, were also among the top goods the US shipped there.
Stocks were relatively unchanged on the news. The Dow was up 115 points, or 0.26%. The S&P 500 was flat and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.37%.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s John Towfighi contributed reporting.
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