Trump set to arrive in Manila half an hour before ASEAN closing

US President Donald Trump meets with Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2025. US President Donald Trump voiced confidence at reaching a trade deal with the Philippines as he welcomed his counterpart Ferdinand Marcos to the White House.

AFP / Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

MANILA, Philippines — United States President Donald Trump is expected to hold talks with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila next week, but he is not due to land half an hour before the formal close of the ASEAN summit.

Trump's scheduled airport arrival, based on ASEAN organizers' advisory to the media, is at 5:30 p.m on Tuesday, November 17. No official confirmation has been given on when the US president plans to arrive at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, the summit's main venue.

The latest schedule issued to the media by the ASEAN National Organizing Council sets the summit's closing ceremony on Tuesday, November 17 at 5:00 p.m., followed by a speech and press conference by Marcos as chair at 6 p.m.

Trump is the last leader scheduled to reach Manila for the gathering. 

Dominic Xavier Imperial, the spokesperson for the Philippines' ASEAN chairship, confirmed in a message to reporters that the ASEAN-US Special Summit, which Trump will attend, "will be the last engagement to cap the meetings on 17 November."  

In an interview with ANC's Headstart on Thursday, November 12, Imperial said "there will definitely be a bilateral engagement between President Trump and President Marcos" during the US leader's short stop in the country.

This means Trump could miss the East Asia Summit, a forum that includes the United States, which begins at 2:30 p.m. on November 17.

Both Trump and Marcos are due in Shenzhen, China, for the APEC leaders' meeting on November 18 and 19.

Special summit

The US-ASEAN special summit will be held in a "very intimate" format where leaders are expected to speak more openly about how geopolitical shifts are affecting the region, Imperial said.

ASEAN expects to adopt at least two documents with Washington, Imperial said: one covering political-security, economic and trade ties, and another on online scams and transnational crime.

Trump last visited the Philippines in November 2017 for the ASEAN summit hosted by then-President Rodrigo Duterte. 

Marcos invited him to this year's meetings during a White House visit in July 2025.  

Marcos is also expected to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, as well as with the leaders of Japan, Australia and South Korea, Imperial said.