It was United States President Donald Trump who personally invited his Filipino counterpart President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for an official visit to Washington, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday.

According to DFA Secretary Theresa Lazaro, the upcoming meeting between Trump and Marcos will be the former’s first bilateral engagement among Southeast Asian leaders.

“I just wanted to say that it is President Trump who invited President Marcos to this meeting,” Lazaro told reporters in her first ever meeting with the members of the DFA Press Corp. after her appointment as the head of the agency.

“If I’m correct, he is the first among ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] leaders to receive such an invitation from the White House,” she added.

Lazaro added that Marcos will be accommodated at the historic Blair House, the official guest residence of the US President.

“The president will be staying in the presidential guesthouse -- the Blair house. So that means something,” she said.

Malacañang earlier announced Marcos’ visit to the US from 20 to 22 July, shortly after Trump issued another tariff notices to at least seven countries, including the Philippines, a key US ally in Asia.

In the letter, Trump said the Philippines will be slapped with a higher 20% tariff rate which will take effect on August 1.

Tariffs, immigration

Lazaro declined to comment on whether the tariff issue will be raised during the meeting, stressing the matter falls under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

“That is within the purview of the DTI, as well as the Office of Secretary Frederick Go. Basically, I cannot respond to your questions because it is within their remit, within their purview of jurisdiction,” she explained.

“We are still discussing it in the process of discussion so just give us some time because there are other agencies concerned, and will be the subject of intense discussion,” she added.

Lazaro was also asked whether the issue on immigration will be tackled during the meeting of the two leaders.  

“I have no information yet. [I] just arrived this weekend and I have not really met with the concerned officials,” she said.

In January, Marcos expressed his desire to meet with Trump, who at that time just returned to the White House after his victory in the November US elections.

Marcos said he wanted to meet Trump to “influence” the latter about his policymaking, particularly on immigration.

“Some hundreds of Filipinos may have already been sent home. This is something we need to work through and, hopefully, resolve. We’ll see how we can influence policymaking on immigration,” Marcos said in mixed Filipino and English.

One of Trump's campaign promises was to deport an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, with a goal of expelling around 1 million undocumented immigrants per year.

According to the DFA, there are an estimated 370,000 undocumented Filipino immigrants in the US.