NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 04:42 ET
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for its Agribusiness Trade Mission to Manila, scheduled for April 13-16, 2026, with a deadline of Friday, Jan. 9, the agency said. “U.S. agricultural exporters have an abundance of new opportunities in the Philippines, thanks to President Trump’s recent trade agreement,” said Luke J. Lindberg, USDA under secretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs. USDA said the mission will align with the 80th anniversary of U.S.-Philippine diplomatic relations in 2026. https://www.fas.usda.gov/topics/trade-missions/philippines-april-2026 1
The application window comes as the Trump administration presses USDA to expand and diversify overseas outlets for U.S. farm commodities, with the Philippines singled out as one of the targets for 2026, Manila Bulletin reported, citing a Dec. 23 USDA statement. https://mb.com.ph/2025/12/24/usda-mounts-trade-mission-to-manila-in-april-2026 2
USDA said in a Dec. 24 release that the Manila trip is one of six agribusiness trade missions planned for 2026, with other stops in Indonesia, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. The department said the Philippines would apply zero tariffs on U.S. goods under a July trade agreement, while Philippine exports to the United States would face 19% tariffs. 3
USDA says there is no participation fee, but companies pay their own airfare, lodging (capped at the U.S. government per diem rate), some meals, and costs tied to shipping, storing and showing samples. The agency says it covers most on-the-ground expenses such as local transportation, meeting venues and interpretation, and that single-location missions typically run four days in-country with briefings, site visits and targeted buyer meetings. USDA lists trademissions@fas.usda.gov as a contact point for prospective participants. 4
For smaller exporters, that mix can compress the early legwork of market entry into a single week, while putting potential buyers in front of sellers quickly.
The Manila mission also arrives as Southeast Asia draws renewed attention from global food companies chasing growth and steadier demand than in some mature markets.
The Philippines has been in the spotlight for a different reason as well: consumer demand for ube, a Philippine purple yam used in sweets, is showing up on menus overseas, including purple-glazed doughnuts in New York City, purple lattes in Paris and purple-tinged baked goods in Melbourne, a report published on Tuesday said. The Philippines grows about 14,000 tonnes of ube a year and is considered the world’s top producer, the report said, adding that the rising appetite is starting to strain the people who farm it. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/world/asia/philippines-ube-purple-yam.html 5
The contrast is sharp: USDA’s trip is designed to sell more U.S. agricultural products into the Philippines, while ube shows how a Filipino staple can suddenly become a global ingredient story.
Both threads point to tighter cross-Pacific food trade, with brands and commodity suppliers trying to anticipate where demand will move next — and whether supply can keep pace.
