Philippines–United States relations () are the bilateral and diplomatic relations of the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America.
The relationship has been historically strong, described by some as a "special relationship" as a consequence of the Philippines' American colonial period between 1898 and 1946. The Philippines is one of the United States' oldest Asian partners and a strategically major non-NATO ally. Since 1951, the countries have been formally bound in a mutual defense treaty. An outlier was the early presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, who sought closer relations with China and Russia.
The economic dimensions of the relationship have been shaped by U.S. advocacy for neoliberal reforms under the Washington Consensus framework, implemented through IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs since the 1980s.
This article covers Philippine–American relations after Philippine independence from the United States in 1946, while the article History of the Philippines (1898–1946) describes the history of the Philippines during American colonial rule.
History
The Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America have a long and storied history with each other. Firstly, Filipinos are the oldest Asian ethnic group in the Americas. Filipino sailors were the first Asians in North America. The first documented presence of Filipinos in what is now the United States dates back to October 1587 around Morro Bay, California. The first permanent settlement of Filipinos was in Louisiana in 1763; the settlers there were called "Manilamen", and they served in the Battle of New Orleans during the closing stages of the War of 1812, supporting the Americans against the British Empire. The American state of Texas, due to it being a former Spanish territory, was even once called "New Philippines", so named since the Spanish wanted to replicate the prosperity they achieved in the Philippines in that territory in the Americas. The 1898 Philippine Revolution against Spain was inspired by the French and American revolutions. The United States eventually purchased the Philippines from Spain in the Treaty of Paris, and afterwards the Americans invaded and destroyed the First Philippine Republic in the Philippine–American War.
The United States federal government nearly considered selling Mindanao to the German Empire in 1910.
Except for the brief interruption of the Japanese occupation between 1942 and 1945, the United States ruled the Philippines from 1898 to 1946, after which, the Philippines was granted independence after being devastated by the Second World War.
Despite the essential role Filipino soldiers played in the United States victory in the Pacific during World War II, their contributions in defending democracy and liberty were totally ignored. Instead, the U.S. government denied them one important right given to everyone else who has served in the United States Military: the right to veterans’ benefits. Of the 66 allied nations who fought with the U.S. in World War II, only the Philippines was singled out by the Rescission Acts of 1946.Lardizabal, R. (2014, May 15). The 1946 Rescission Acts: Betrayal and Unjust Treatment. Positively Filipino. Retrieved December 5, 2025
In the Second World War, the Filipinos formed a close alliance with the United States to resist Japanese occupation—they became independent on July 4, 1946.
During the Cold War between the capitalist United States and communist Soviet Union, the Philippines received negligible financial assistance from the United States despite being devastated by World War 2, having defended US interests, and being a former colony. It received only US$5 billion of aid in totality since independenceImpact of Trump’s freeze order on USAID in the Philippines, world compared to the larger amounts of free development aid given to other Asian allies like: Israel (US$317.9 billion in free aid), South Korea (US$119.9 billion in free aid)Which countries receive the most foreign aid from the US? USAFacts. Updated on October 12, 2023. South Vietnam (US$104 billion),Which countries receive the most foreign aid from the US? USAFacts. Updated on October 12, 2023. Taiwan, (US$41.81015 billion by year 1975,Aid and development in Taiwan, South Korea, and South Vietnam By: Gray, Kevin equivalent to US$242 billion in 2024) CPI Inflation Calculator and Japan. The United States considered the economic development of their other allies more important than that of the Philippines because they had hostile pro-Soviet Union neighbours which the United States were opposed to. Furthermore, America applied a deindustrialization policy and supported free market reforms in the Philippines, assigning it a role of only "supplying raw materials" while being open to foreign imports, because Japan was designated to be the main industrial export power in Asia, thus retarding industrialization efforts in the Philippines while the other nations that were protectionist and had industrial policy surged ahead in development.America's Double-cross of the Philippines: A Democratic Ally in 1899 and 1946 By Salvador Araneta
According to the Book: "The Anti-Development State: The Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines - by Economists; Walden Bello, with Herbert Docena, Marissa de Guzman and Marylou Malig", according to them, the "unfair" treatment of the United States; by actively investing in its own former enemies: Japan, and its colonies; Taiwan and South Korea, since they were threatened by Communist Russia and China, and the United States wanted them as rich "Showcase Countries" to be a good examples against Communism, and also allowing: Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, to have an Activist State-Led Capitalism which was also protectionist, made them grow rich. Whereas the United States "hypocritically" applied the reverse policy in the Philippines its own former colony and steadfast friend, since the American led World Trade Organization forced the reverse of the policies it did for East Asia, in supporting the privatization of National Companies in the Philippines and mass adoption of unrestricted open-trade killing local companies and industries, and adopt the reverse of protectionism, which was trade-liberalization, as well as imposing the Bell Trade Act giving Americans equal rights to Filipino citizens to exploiting local resources in exchange for World War 2 repair money, allowing for massive capital flight away from the Philippines to the United States, which they didn't even apply to American occupied Japan.THE ANTI-DEVELOPMENT STATE: The Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines By Walden Bello 2004 (PUBLISHED: UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES DILIMAN - ISBN: 971-8953-02-7)
The US supported the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
Pivot to China during the Duterte administration
After President Rodrigo Duterte formally assumed the office on June 30, 2016, US–Philippine relations began to sour. A rift between Duterte and then-US President Barack Obama began when Obama expressed his concern over human rights issues on Duterte's "War on Criminality and Drugs". According to a statement issued by the White House, Obama commended the country for its "vibrant democracy", but also highlighted "enduring values" that underpinned their "longstanding ties", including "shared commitments to democracy, human rights and rule of law". This intervention and Duterte's choice of words while speaking about Obama during a press conference, where he called him "a son of a whore" resulted in a canceled meeting between the two leaders during the 2016 ASEAN summit held in Laos.
A few weeks later, Duterte suggested American special forces cease their operations in Mindanao and leave. He cited the killings of Muslim Filipinos during a U.S. pacification campaign in the early 1900s, which he said were at the root of the long restiveness by minority Muslims in the largely Catholic nation's south. During an official visit to Vietnam on September 28, 2016, he explicitly expressed his desire to end the Philippines' joint military exercises with the United States. Duterte announced the upcoming scheduled war games would be the last under his term, while adding that he would continue to uphold the Philippines' treaties with the U.S.
, despite Duterte's shift of foreign policy towards China and away from the U.S., Filipinos still held low approval and trust in China relative to the U.S. On former president Fidel Ramos' resignation as special envoy to China, he stated that he didn't like Duterte's treatment of Obama.
Duterte later said following the 2016 U.S. presidential election that he would stop quarrels with the U.S. following President Donald Trump's victory. Trump had planned to continue to aid the country during his presidency.
According to a report by Reuters, the United States ran the #ChinaAngVirus disinformation campaign to discredit the Sinovac Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, including using fake social media accounts to spread the disinformation that it contained pork-derived ingredients and was therefore haram under Islamic law. The campaign primarily targeted people in the Philippines and used a social media hashtag for "China is the virus" in Tagalog. The campaign ran from 2020 to mid-2021. The primary contractor for the U.S. military on the project was General Dynamics IT, which received $493 million for its role.
Relations during the Marcos Jr. administration
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., the Philippine president since June 2022, appears to be attempting to normalize relations with the United States in part due to China's geostrategic rise and the need to cooperate on the economy. However, the Biden administration has said human rights will come first in America's dealings with the Philippines, responding to concerns with Marcos' and Duterte's human rights records.
In August 2022, Marcos met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He met with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff in November.
Marcos and U.S. President Joe Biden met face-to-face on the sidelines of the 2022 United Nations General Assembly on September 23. During Marcos's working visit to the United States on September 18–24, top financial officials secured investment pledges of $4 billion and 100,000 jobs for the Philippines. Biden pledged to help the Philippines with energy and food security, reiterating that message during the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits in Cambodia during the week of November 9–13, 2022.
In February 2023, Marcos briefly met with Biden's Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to finalize an agreement to add U.S.-accessible Philippine military bases to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
On April 11, 2024, Marcos, along with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, met with Biden in Washington, D.C., for a trilateral summit. Marcos stated that the summit would include discussions on an agreement to maintain security and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. He further emphasized that the summit was mainly aimed at boosting economic ties between the three allies.
In August 2024, the Biden administration announced an additional $500 million of military aid to the Philippines, further bolstering the defense alliance between the two nations in light of the Philippines grappling with aggressive actions by Chinese ships in the South China Sea.
On July 22, 2025, President Donald Trump announced, following a meeting in Washington, D.C., that he and President Bongbong Marcos agreed to a trade agreement that sets a 19% tariff on Philippine exports to the United States, while U.S. goods entering the Philippines will be exempt from tariffs. The tariff rate was 1% lower than what Trump had initially threatened on July 9, 2025.