Trump’s new ambassador in Manila arrived making the case that America’s next move in the Philippines is economic as much as military.
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. formally opened the tour of a Trump appointee who takes over one of Washington’s most sensitive Asian posts as Manila leans harder on its only treaty ally.
Photograph courtesy of PCO
The Philippines has plenty of friends now.
Australia is around. Japan. Canada and New Zealand are moving in. Everybody has statements, joint exercises, agreements, very serious-looking men in suits saying very serious things about stability and law of the sea.
Useful, sure. Except only one country has a treaty that turns an attack on the Philippines into a problem for Washington, too.
Lee Lipton, President Trump’s new man in Manila, put a business edge on America’s oldest alliance in Asia, saying the US has “really big plans” for the Philippines.
For years, the relationship has been reported in the language of danger: hard, metallic, wet with saltwater: Coast Guard. China. West Philippine Sea. Reefs, ships, lasers, water cannons.
The US already has the security architecture here. It has the MDT. Edca. VFA. It has exercises that keep getting bigger. This year’s Balikatan drew about 17,000 personnel from the Philippines, the US and partner nations.
But Washington also knows military presence alone does not win the long game. China does not compete only with hulls in the water.
Lipton’s pitch was broader than deterrence. The alliance, under Trump’s ambassador, is being sold as protection and transaction. America as shield. But also America as investor, employer, builder, buyer, partner, dealmaker.
Washington did not send a gray embassy lifer to make this pitch and sent Trump’s businessman.
Lipton arrived with commerce under his fingernails. Apparel. Licenses. Calvin Klein. Guess. St. John Knits. Palm Beach dining rooms with water views and very expensive salads.
Buddies, associates? One happy family?
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None of this is brand new. Washington has already been talking about infrastructure, critical minerals, energy, supply chains, economic corridors in the Philippines.
After meeting Marcos at the White House, Trump announced a 19-percent tariff on Philippine goods. Marcos, in turn, said Manila would open wider to American automobiles and increase imports of US soy, wheat, pharmaceuticals.
That conversation did not stay in Washington, and resurfaced in Manila through Lipton.
At the 4th of July reception at BGC Fort, it felt like the thing finally found its salesman, where the promise was no longer only this: If trouble comes, America is bound to show up.
It was also this: Before trouble comes, America wants to be built into the place.
