Marcos calls recent US-China summit ‘encouraging’

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has described the recent talks between the United States and China as “encouraging,” hoping they could help diminish the trade war and boost cooperation among nations.

Despite limited information on concrete deals between the two rival superpowers, Marcos said the recent summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is of importance to everyone.

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“There are continuing exchanges between China and the United States. That is very, very important,” he told Japanese and local media in an interview in Malacañang on Monday.

“Again, it comes down to peace and when I say peace now, I don’t mean just a military lack of fighting. I’m also talking about peace in terms of trade. The trade wars will diminish. There will be more cooperation,” Marcos added.

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The Philippine president said that an end in trade wars would benefit Asia and its neighboring countries.

“It’s very well to compete aggressively. That’s a good thing. It’s good for our consumers. It’s good for the strength of our economy. When innovation comes in, we compete vigorously. But we must cooperate whenever we possibly can. And that, for me, is going to bring the synergy,” he said.

He then expressed hope that Trump and Xi’s meetings yielded a win-win outcome.

“Hopefully, we will hear in the next few days some of the agreements that they have been able to reach and that will give us a better idea of what the effects will be, how we will renounce to the rest of us in the global economy,” said Marcos.

“I understand that it is not a simple discussion. There are issues that are very complicated. And very many, very many complicated issues that have to be discussed and have to be agreed upon. But nonetheless, it is encouraging to see that the two leaders have gathered. Apparently, it was a very fruitful discussion,” he continued. /cb