Philippines open to wider US market access

But to prioritize local interest in tariff talks

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is open to facilitating greater market access for goods coming from the United States, but promoting domestic industries’ interest will remain a priority in the negotiations to lower the reciprocal tariff, according to the Department of Trade and Industry.

DTI Secretary Cristina Roque said that the government remains open to facilitating enhanced market access for US goods such as automobiles, dairy products, frozen meat and soybeans.

“In any negotiation, we cannot just take and take. We have to give,” she said.

Roque and Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go are in the US for tariff negotiations.

While the government is open to providing concessions to the US when it negotiates to lower the reciprocal tariff imposed on Philippine exports, Roque said protecting local interest comes first.

“When we go there, we have to protect first the interests of the people here,” she said.

Roque said this is why the DTI is meeting with the economic team and conducting consultations with stakeholders to achieve a win-win scenario.

“We cannot have a scenario where one sector wins over the others,” she said.

The DTI chief also said the government is hopeful it could get the US to bring down the reciprocal tariff during the negotiations.

“So we’re hoping that it would not be a problem for them to lower the tariff because the whole world is asking to lower down the tariff,” Roque said.

Earlier, she said the aim is for the country to have a reciprocal tariff lower than its neighbors.

The US announced reciprocal tariffs on trade partners including the Philippines, with a levy at 17 percent, the second lowest in Southeast Asia.

On April 9, the US declared a 90-day pause on the tariffs and brought down the levy to 10 percent for most of its trade partners to give time for negotiations with trade partners.