UNITED States President Donald Trump and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will attend the 49th Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit in November in Manila.
Malacañang on Wednesday confirmed Trump’s attendance at the summit from Nov. 16 to 18 as the Philippines serves as Asean chairman this year.
“It is confirmed,” Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said at a press briefing.
The Palace, however, declined to provide additional details of Trump’s visit.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the government expects the 10 other Asean leaders to attend the summit.
Asean is composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam and the Philippines.
“The UN SecGen is likewise attending for the Asean-UN Summit,” DFA Assistant Secretary and Asean spokesman Dax Imperial said in a text message.
“As for dialogue partners, we expect the leaders from Asean Plus Three and the EAS (East Asia Summit) to attend, although at the moment we are still awaiting receipt of official notification regarding the leaders’ attendance,” Imperial said.
The Asean Plus Three is composed of the 11 Asean member states and their dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea.
The EAS involves the 11 Asean leaders and eight dialogue partners from Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the US.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared Nov. 16 to 18 as special nonworking days in the National Capital Region for the 49th Asean Summit and Related Summits.
Trump last visited the Philippines on Nov. 12 to 14, 2017, to attend the 31st Asean Summit Meeting in Manila during his first presidential term.
Marcos and Trump last met face-to-face at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 22, 2025, to discuss bilateral relations, defense cooperation and trade.
The two leaders subsequently held a telephone conversation on July 23, 2026, during which they discussed economic developments and regional security concerns, including the South China Sea.
