After months of grueling negotiations by his trade team, President Marcos came back last week from his face-to-face meeting with United States President Donald Trump at the White House with a
After months of grueling negotiations by his trade team, President Marcos came back last week from his face-to-face meeting with United States President Donald Trump at the White House with a 19-percent tariff on Philippine exports to the US.
It was lower than the 20 percent announced earlier this month but higher than the original 17 percent “reciprocal tariff” announced during Trump’s “Liberation Day” in April that was supposed to finally take effect on Aug. 1.
Critics were quick to condemn the minuscule 1-percentage point reduction in the tariff as a sellout, framing it as a case of the Philippines giving up too much for too little.
The Philippines, after all, agreed to open up the Philippine market to a host of American products including automobiles, pharmaceuticals and agricultural products such as soy and wheat at zero tariff.
But Mr. Marcos, who was the first Southeast Asian leader to meet with Trump, took pains to explain after their talks at the White House last week that while the 1-percentage point reduction may seem “very small”, it was nevertheless a “significant achievement” if viewed from a wider and more pragmatic lens.
As Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Secretary Frederick Go and Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said in a joint statement, the 19-percent tariff makes the Philippines “among the most competitive Southeast Asian economies trading with the United States” and should encourage foreign investors wanting cheaper entry to the US to set up job-generating businesses here.
