No bacon from US

On the same day that President Marcos managed to cut the planned 20 percent US tariff on Philippine exports to 19 percent, Indonesia sealed a deal that brought down the planned tariff on its products to 19 percent as well—from 32 percent.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who met with US President Donald Trump in Washington on the same day as BBM, brought down the planned tariff on Japanese exports—including one of the biggest, automobiles—from 25 to 15 percent.

Earlier this month, Vietnam's leader To Lam pulled down the planned US tariff on Vietnamese exports from 46 percent to 20 percent—and he did this only through a phone call with Trump.

We're familiar with the admonition to underpromise and overdeliver.

This could have been useful in that sudden trip (the announcement was sudden) of President Marcos to Washington for his first-ever official meeting with Trump.

The visit was touted as a win for BBM, being the first Southeast Asian head of state to be invited to the White House under the second Trump presidency.

This was as it should be, considering that the Philippines is the only US treaty ally in Southeast Asia.

But BBM's team should have been mindful of how mercurial Trump can be, toward allies and foes alike. And how Trump had bragged last April, after upending international trade rules through tariffs that he seemed to have plucked out of thin air, that "these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass. They are. They are dying to make a deal."

Trump said this at a Republican fundraising dinner in Washington during which he also parodied world leaders telling him: "Please, please, sir, make a deal. I'll do anything. I'll do anything, sir!"

Anyone kissing Trump's butt had better be sure that it's worth it.