Marcos urges renewal of US GSP scheme

WASHINGTON – President Marcos has called for the renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a program that grants duty-free privilege to more than 3,500 exports from the Philippines.

The GSP, which was created through the US Trade Act of 1974, was intended to promote economic development in beneficiary countries by removing duties on several of their products entering the US. The Philippines is one of the top beneficiaries of the program along with Thailand and Indonesia.

The program expired in 2020. The GSP would be renewed if the American Congress passes a reauthorization bill. Measures introducing a new GSP eligibility criteria have been filed but the US legislature has yet to approve them. The reauthorization of the GSP is a priority of the Philippine Trade and Investment Center here.

“We would like very much for the authorization to come about as this boosts trade, and to make US products that are made in the Philippines more competitive in the global market,” Marcos said during a forum organized by the US-ASEAN Business Council yesterday.

Last October, the Philippine embassy said views favoring American products have made the renewal of the GSP a “highly charged” topic. According to the embassy, most American politicians want to avoid talking about the GSP because of the “buy American” narrative in local US politics.

Three of the top 10 Philippine exports to the US are GSP eligible namely, leather bags (4th), TV and sound recorders (7th), and rubber tires (10th) and have a combined amount of almost $1.06 billion. The $3.1 billion worth of GSP-eligible Philippine exports account for some 22 percent of the total value of Philippine exports to the US.

According to the Philippine embassy, the Philippines was among the consistent top sources of US GSP imports from 2010 to 2020, rising as high as fourth in 2019 with a total value of $2.77 billion.

In the same event, Marcos said the Philippines’ relationship with the US is in the “front and center right now,” overcoming “some bumps and scrapes” over the past years.

“And but now, the security and defense are top of mind...we also have to see that because our economies and our societies have grown more complex, everything, impinges on everything else and...it is very hard for us to separate and say that this is a discreet sector that does not affect any other sector,” the President said.

Marcos trumpeted the Philippines’ economic growth, which he attributed to the “very aggressive” efforts to promote the Philippines as an investment destination. He urged US businesses to invest more in the Philippines since the country has stepped up efforts to “create an atmosphere that is attractive to potential investors.”

“We will continue to listen to you and to all our other partners as to what else we can do to help... to help transform our economy and in that way to be able to play a viable part in the security and defense issues that are the challenges of the day and of the region,” he added.