Trump Announces "Military Cooperation" on Social Media
The United States has reached a trade agreement with the Philippines. Under the agreement, the United States will impose a 19% tariff on imports from the Philippines, while U.S.-made products will be exported to the Philippines tariff-free.
On July 22 (local time), U.S. President Donald Trump announced via his social networking service (SNS), Truth Social, that he had held a summit meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos at the White House and reached this agreement.
President Trump said, "It was a beautiful visit," and added, "The Philippines has agreed to open its market to the United States and apply zero tariffs." He continued, "We will also cooperate militarily."
Previously, in a tariff letter sent to President Marcos on July 9, President Trump had specified a reciprocal tariff rate of 20%. Under the new trade agreement, the tariff rate, effective from August 1, will be 19%, which is 1 percentage point lower than before.
With this, the number of countries with which the United States has concluded trade agreements has increased to four: the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Indonesia, and now the Philippines.
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