President Rodrigo Duterte and newly elected US President Donald Trump. File/Composite

MANILA – If newly elected US President Donald Trump makes good his campaign threat to pull the United States out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), he might also pull the plug on its Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the Philippines.

Trump has called the international security alliance “obsolete,” saying it “is costing US a fortune.” He said as much about America’s other alliances in Asia.

These observations were contained in a pre-election research by the East West Center in Washington, D.C. that examined Trump’s pronouncements before the Nov. 8 election, focusing on key Asian issues as part of the “Asia Matters for America and America Matters for Asia” project.

Trump seemed to mirror the sentiment of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has also questioned the importance of the 65-year-old defense treaty with the US and said he willing to “revise or abrogate” it.