Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s recent visit to the White House promised to set a new tone for US strategy. The contrast with the Biden administration was vivid: President Donald Trump mostly discussed trade with Marcos and seemed eager to downplay any militarized rivalry with China.
It’s an encouraging pivot from the Biden administration’s approach, which escalated the US-China rivalry.
Last year, President Joe Biden was focused on the so-called “latticework” of alliances in the Asia-Pacific, holding a trilateral summit with both Marcos and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan. The rather clear intention was to balance and even contain China’s rise.
By contrast, while Trump did briefly praise the ongoing military exercises between the US and the Philippines, there was no mention of the trilateral initiatives with Japan. Instead, Trump seemed eager to tamp down the US-China rivalry, at least in the Philippines context.
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