Trump to attend Manila ASEAN summit

US President Donald Trump will attend the ASEAN summit in Manila on November 16 before travelling to China for APEC. The trip comes amid strained US-India ties over tariffs and Russian oil purchases, with potential diplomatic engagements carrying regional significance 

Washington: President Donald Trump will travel to Manila next month for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit before heading to China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, the White House has said.

Trump will take part in the summit in the Philippine capital on November 16 and then go to Shenzhen for APEC, which runs from November 17 to 19, the White House told the New York Post on Sunday. The goal of the trip is to demonstrate America’s commitment to its allies in Southeast Asia and to advance US economic and national security objectives, the newspaper reported, citing a White House official.

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In China, Trump is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in person for the third time this year, after their meeting in Beijing in May and Xi’s visit to the White House last month, the Post reported. The Philippines, which chairs ASEAN this year, has declared November 16 to 18 non-working days in Metro Manila for the 49th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits.

The gathering includes the East Asia Summit, where India and the United States both have a seat. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had signalled the President’s interest in July, when he attended ASEAN foreign ministers’ meetings in Manila. “I think he’d like to. I don’t know what the schedule looks like,” Rubio told reporters then, according to ABS-CBN News.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. renewed his invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the ASEAN-India Summit and the East Asia Summit when the two leaders met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi in September. “I look forward to receiving Prime Minister Modi in Manila this November,” Marcos said in a statement after that visit.

A Manila meeting, if it takes place, would come as ties between Washington and New Delhi remain strained over tariffs and India’s purchases of Russian oil. Last year, PM Modi joined the ASEAN-India Summit in Kuala Lumpur virtually and sent External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to the East Asia Summit, ruling out a meeting with Trump, who attended in person. The two leaders last spoke by telephone on September 30, a call PM Modi described as “productive”.

A more immediate test comes on October 18, the deadline under Section 113 of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 for the President to raise duties to “up to 100 per cent” on goods from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or natural gas that keep buying. India has been among the largest buyers of Russian crude since 2022.

The law allows the President to waive the duties if he certifies to Congress that a waiver is in the US national interest. The decision comes as the Trump administration itself moves to buy Russian diesel.

New Delhi has long argued it faces a double standard, with the External Affairs Ministry saying in August 2025 that the US “continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals”. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Timor-Leste.

The East Asia Summit brings together ASEAN members with eight partners, including India, the United States, China, Japan and Australia. APEC is a forum of 21 Pacific Rim economies. India is not a member.