US announces $60-million aid for Philippine economy, maritime security
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced $60 million in fresh funding to bolster the Philippines’ economy and maritime security, as Manila and Washington agreed to expand cooperation and further strengthen their more than seven-decade-old treaty alliance.
Rubio thus announced in a statement Wednesday, two days after he met with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who was in Washington for a meeting with US President Donald Trump.
It also came on the heels of the new 19% tariff rate for goods from the Philippines, which Trump announced after meeting Marcos at the White House on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila).
Manila and Washington have yet to reveal details of the trade deal.
The new levies on Philippine goods were just below the 20% demanded by Trump this month and were above the 17% rate set in April when Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariff rates for its trading partners, including its allies.
“This is the US government’s first announcement of new foreign assistance for any country since the Trump administration began its review and realignment of foreign assistance in January,” the State Department said in a statement highlighting Washington’s commitment to its ties with its oldest treaty ally in Asia.
The funding, amounting to P3 billion in local currency, would reinforce the Philippines’ energy, maritime, and economic growth programs, the State Department said.
Rubio, according to the State Department, would seek US Congress approval to allocate Php825 million or $15 million from said amount “to catalyze private sector development in the Luzon Economic Corridor,” a US-envisioned growth region in Asia, that intends to increase trade and establish an economic hub in the northern Philippines through major infrastructure and other key projects.
“If approved, this funding will support investments in the areas of transport, logistics, energy, and semiconductors that will help create jobs and drive economic growth in the country,” the State Department said.
Ahead of his summit with Trump on July 22, Marcos met with Rubio and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, with the two senior Trump officials reaffirming the US’s “ironclad commitment” to its alliance with the Philippines and enhancing economic ties with Manila.
Both Manila and Washington share concerns on China’s increasingly assertive behavior in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly in its entirety.
The US has repeatedly said it would come to the Philippines’ aid if Filipino forces, ships, or aircraft come under attack anywhere in the South China Sea under a 1951 mutual defense treaty.
Washington has also forged a trilateral bloc with Japan and the Philippines to boost security, economic, and investment engagements. Such alliances would help its two closest Asian allies, which both face similar territorial disputes with China, diversify their trading engagements as a buffer in case the disputes spill into the economic front.
The US is also helping the Philippines shore up its territorial defense, conducting joint military drills and joint sails in the West Philippine Sea and through intelligence-sharing and provision of defense equipment, as the Marcos administration expands its security alliances with “like-minded” military powers. –NB, GMA Integrated News