US eyes trade partnership with Asian countries

MANILA, Philippines - The United States is looking  at forging a trans-Pacific partnership with Asian countries including the Philippines after the proposed ASEAN-United States multilateral agreement failed to gain ground.

In an interview with The STAR, Rick Santos board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (AmCham), said they will be in Washington this week to discuss the idea with the US.

Aside from the Philippines, other countries that may be included in the partnership are Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea and even Australia.

When asked about the Philippines’ relationship with the United States, Santos said he is confident that the new Aquino administration will be able to work well with America.

The ASEAN-US free trade agreement (FTA) did not push through because of problems with Myanmar. “I am pretty sure that the transpacific partnership will not include Burma.”

The Philippines has been forging FTAs with other countries to attract more investments and foster better trading relations.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the bilateral agreement between the United States and the Philippines did not prosper because the Philippines is not as open to trade liberalization like Singapore.

However, in an attempt to strengthen trading partnership with the US the Philippines together with other ASEAN member countries are embarking on a roadshow. For the first time ASEAN economic ministers will have a trade and investment roadshow in the US.

 “As far as the US is concerned, the Philippines has to make a case. It needs to show the US where it wants to go as far as trade liberalization is concerned,” Trade Senior Undersecretary Thomas G. Aquino told reporters.

Aquino said, this is a challenge for the new administration – to study whether or not it wants to pursue a bilateral agreement with the US.

The US administration under former President George Bush had very little engagement with ASEAN. The Philippines is a member of the ASEAN. Given the change in government, Aquino said it is up to the ASEAN to show that “we are an interesting group of countries to trade with.”

The US has been hesitant to form a multilateral agreement with the ASEAN because of Myanmar. This is also the reason why the agreement between the ASEAN and the European Union did not push through.