The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) strongly condemns the recent deal between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and US President Donald Trump, in which Marcos made detrimental concessions that will exacerbate the Philippines’ economic dependence and further undermine the country’s sovereignty. The Filipino people must take action to hold Marcos accountable for the national betrayal in the lopsided deals he made with Trump.
In the so-called tariff negotiations with the Philippines which took place during Marcos’ visit on July 20 to 22, US President Trump promised to “reduce” the “reciprocal tariffs” on Philippine exports to the US by 1%. This promise followed Trump’s order in April to raise tariff rates on imports from the Philippines from an average of 2% to 20%, resulting in tariff rates of 19%, a net increase of 17 percentage points with Trump’s tariffs.
In a lopsided exchange for Trump’s measly “reduction”, Marcos agreed to eliminate Philippine tariffs on US exports of vehicles, wheat, soy products, pharmaceuticals and a range of other US goods. In doing so, he further opened the floodgates to US-made commodities, which would reinforce the local economy’s dependence on imports and accelerate the erosion of local manufacturing and agricultural production. All these are reminiscent of the colonial Bell Trade Act and Laurel-Langley Agreement which set the groundwork for the semicolonial economy.
Marcos also promoted incentives for US companies and capital ventures, promising tax-free operations, greater access to local natural resources, and cheap labor. At least three giant finance companies (Cerberus, I Square Capital, KKR & Co and Global Infrastructure Partners) are set to invested heavily in shipbuilding, logistics and energy industries to support the expansion of US market and military presence.
The Marcos-Trump deal principally serves the aim of the US imperialism to pull its economy from stagnation and threats of recession by giving American capitalists greater access to foreign markets to dump their surplus commodities to reduce the size of its unsold inventories, and invest idle surplus capital to take advantage of access to resources and cheap labor. In contrast, the deal reinforces the country’s agrarian, backward and non-industrial economy, and further degrades its productive capacity to address the needs of the people.
The 19% Trump tariff on Philippine exports will heighten competition on Philippine agricultural products, which will lead to a further plunge in the prices of key Philippine exports to the US which include coconuts, fruits, sugar and others. To secure their profits, big bourgeois comprador merchant traders and exporters will force down the buying prices of these commodities, and cause greater hardships on the peasant masses and rural communities.
The Marcos-Trump deal primarily serves the aim of US companies to dump its surplus commodities in the Philippines and other foreign markets to reduce the size of its unsold inventories, which has resulted in low profit rates and economic stagnation in the US. In contrast, by allowing US commodities to flood the Philippines, the deal reinforces the country’s agrarian, backward and non-industrial economy, and further degrades its productive capacity to address the needs of the people.
The deal forms part of the aggressive push of the Trump government for the US to dominate markets and control global resources, benefiting US corporations and banks. Trump’s push to redivide the markets and sources of raw materials aligns with US imperialist obsession to re-establish its global hegemony as the sole superpower, amid its strategic economic decline.
Heightened US economic aggression is accompanied by heightened military aggression aimed primarily at its imperialist rivals. Serving this purpose, the Marcos-Trump deal further entrenched US military power in the Philippines, to make the country serve as a military stronghold for US hegemonism, power projection and warmongering in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Filipino people must condemn Marcos’ subservience to the US imperialists for allowing the US military to build more and more military installations in the country. They must resist the US plan to establish an ammunition manufacturing facility in Subic Bay which will serve the interests of the US military and military-industrial complex and symbolize US military domination in the Philippines.
The US has built facilities and continues to expand its presence in Northern Luzon, Aurora, Subic and Clark, Quezon, Palawan, Bicol provinces, Cebu, and across Mindanao. These are being used to permanently station an increasing number of US troops in the country, stockpile US weapons, and preposition its missile systems that are being aimed at China. Marcos has allowed the US to use these military bases to carry out nonstop land and naval war exercises that directly aim to provoke China.
The Marcos-Trump deal poses a grave threat to the Filipino people’s security as it further drags the Philippines into conflicts that the US is provoking with China. The US imperialists regard the growth of China’s economic and military power as a strategic threat to their dominance. By serving US interests, the Marcos puppet regime prevents the country from pursuing non-antagonistic and diplomatic means of resolving conflicts with China, in line with the policy of peace and amity.
In the face of Marcos’ national betrayal and brazen puppetry to his US imperialist masters, the Party urgently calls on the Filipino people to unite and fight for economic independence and genuine national freedom. The worsening social conditions and threats of war underline the great urgency for the Filipino people to heighten their struggle by waging people’s war to overthrow the neocolonial state, end imperialist domination and attain their aspirations for national and social liberation.
