ASEAN Summit Opens in Manila as Energy Crisis Tops Agenda and Trump Heads for Tuesday Quad Meeting
Southeast Asian leaders opened the 49th ASEAN Summit in Manila on Sunday, beginning three days of talks dominated by an energy crisis triggered by the Middle East war, tensions in the South China Sea and Myanmar’s long-running civil conflict. The gathering, hosted by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., brings together the leaders of the 11-member bloc alongside major dialogue partners, including US President Donald Trump, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The summit’s most closely watched moment comes on Tuesday, the final day, when Trump is scheduled to arrive in Manila for talks with ASEAN leaders and a meeting of the Quad security grouping — the United States, Japan, Australia and India. It will be the first Quad leaders’ meeting in two years and the first since Trump returned to office last year.
An energy crisis shaped by a distant war
The Middle East war has pushed fuel costs sharply higher across Southeast Asia and disrupted supplies, and energy security sits at the top of the Manila agenda. ASEAN leaders are expected to discuss proposals for joint oil reserves and fuel-sharing arrangements designed to cushion the region against further shocks.
The disruption from the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has hit the region hard, and the Philippines in particular. The summit’s discussions are expected to be shaped by the chokepoint’s closure, with shipping attacks in the waterway already driving up insurance and transport costs for Asian importers. The Quad leaders are also expected to take up the safety of commercial shipping lanes when they meet on Tuesday.
Brazil’s newly re-elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, attending a plenary session on Sunday, put trade at the center of his remarks, telling reporters that Brazil had “learned an extraordinary lesson” after Washington imposed tariffs on other countries. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking at the summit a day earlier, said a new Philippine free-trade deal and ASEAN trade talks had been “substantially concluded.”
South China Sea code still unfinished
Another major issue is the long-delayed South China Sea Code of Conduct between ASEAN and China. Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro said on Saturday that negotiations were about 80 percent complete, but disagreements over key provisions have dimmed hopes of reaching an agreement this year.
The code is meant to set rules for behavior in the disputed waterway, where China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei hold overlapping claims. Years of talks have produced a framework but no binding agreement, and incidents at sea have continued in the meantime.
Myanmar remains on the agenda
Leaders will also review ASEAN’s five-point peace plan for Myanmar, adopted after the military seized power in 2021. Despite calls from some member states to restore high-level engagement with Myanmar’s authorities, Manila has indicated that the bloc will maintain its restrictions until meaningful progress is made toward ending the violence.
The summit runs through Tuesday, when the rotating ASEAN chairmanship passes formally from the Philippines to Singapore. The related summits with dialogue partners — including Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia, the United Nations and the United States — take place on Monday and Tuesday.
What Trump’s Tuesday visit will focus on
Trump is expected to arrive in Manila on Tuesday afternoon, shortly before the closing ceremony, and to join a Quad leaders’ meeting that evening. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated last month that the Quad leaders could meet on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit.
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According to two people familiar with the planning, the supply of critical minerals is expected to be on the Quad agenda, along with free and unimpeded commercial shipping lanes. “The leaders are likely to take up the issue of free and unimpeded commercial shipping lanes in order to secure energy supplies from across the world,” one of the people said. “The issue of attacks on commercial ships is very likely to be taken up.”
The visit is also expected to focus on regional security and Washington’s push to strengthen AI and semiconductor supply chains through its Pax Silica initiative, which aims to reduce dependence on China. Trump is also expected to meet Marcos, with the two countries likely to reaffirm their longstanding security relationship.
The Manila gathering comes just days before a trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in Shenzhen on Thursday, November 19, where Trump is expected to meet the Chinese and Russian leaders. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is also set to sign a defence pact with the Philippines during the summit.
Why this matters
For American readers, the Manila summit is where the administration’s Asia strategy meets the region’s most immediate problem: energy. The Middle East war has already pushed fuel prices higher in the United States, and the same supply shock is now forcing Southeast Asian governments to weigh joint reserves and new trade arrangements. The Quad meeting on Tuesday will test whether the four Indo-Pacific partners can turn shared concern about shipping lanes and critical minerals into concrete action, just as Trump heads into a high-stakes meeting with Xi and Putin in Shenzhen two days later.
Latest developments
The opening ceremony took place on Sunday morning at the Philippine International Convention Center, followed by a plenary session of the bloc’s 11 member states. Dialogue-partner meetings continue on Monday, with the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and others joining across the final two days. The summit closes on Tuesday with the chairmanship handover to Singapore.
Frequently asked questions
When is the ASEAN Summit in Manila?
The 49th ASEAN Summit opened on Sunday, November 15, 2026, and runs through Tuesday, November 17. It is hosted by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila.
When does Trump arrive in Manila?
Trump is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, November 17, the final day of the summit, for talks with ASEAN leaders and a meeting of the Quad leaders — the United States, Japan, Australia and India — that evening.
What is the Quad?
The Quad, formally the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, brings together the United States, Japan, Australia and India to discuss Indo-Pacific security, maritime cooperation and regional stability. Its leaders last met in September 2024 in Delaware.
What are the main issues at the summit?
Energy security tops the agenda, driven by soaring fuel costs and supply disruptions linked to the Middle East war. Leaders are also discussing the South China Sea Code of Conduct, Myanmar’s civil conflict, trade tensions and critical-mineral supply chains.
The Manila summit will be judged by what it produces on Tuesday: whether the Quad can agree on concrete steps for shipping security and critical minerals, and whether ASEAN’s energy proposals move beyond discussion. For now, the region’s leaders have three days to find common ground while a war half a world away keeps pushing their fuel bills higher.
Sources: Aju Press; BusinessWorld / Reuters; TheNigerianNews.
