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FedEx returning to PHL amid US-China trade war —envoy


WASHINGTON — Amid the raging trade dispute between the US and China, American courier services firm FedEx is returning  to the Philippines ten years after closing its Philippine site and relocating its Asian hub to Guangzhou, China in 2009.

This time, the FedEx operations in the Philippines is going to be bigger in scale, said Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez.

The first phase of operations in Clark, Pampanga will start in the 2nd quarter of 2020, while the long-term and bigger site will be completed in 2024. FedEx’s previously located in Subic Bay, Olongapo.

“That is a big win for us,” Romuldez told Filipino journalists on Monday (Tuesday in Manila). “They are moving out of China. I assume it has something to do with the trade war or it is part of their strategy that they see that the Philippines is the center in Asia.”

Romualdez hopes FedEx’s relocation “would be the magnet that will make other companies start looking at the Philippines.”

“Geographically, we are the best place to be located,” he said.

Other American companies, Romualdez said, will increase their presence in the Philippines as the US- China trade war goes on.

Asked if the Philippines has benefitted from the fallout of the trade spat between the world’s two biggest economies, he said at least two other major American firms, Cargill, an animal nutrition supplier, and consumer firm Procter & Gamble will be expanding their Philippine operations.

More foreign companies would move to the Philippines if the restrictions on foreign ownership are relaxed, like in Vietnam which benefitted largely from the trade war with many businesses relocating there recently.

Vietnam has been offering better incentives to foreign businesses, Romualdez noted.

“The biggest obstacle is the economic barriers that we have. These should be seriously looked into. It is the ownership issue—they cannot own more than 40 percent,” Romualdez said.

China and the US are locked in a bitter trade war with President Donald Trump accusing Beijing of unfair trading practices.

Washington imposed tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese products in 2018, a move that prompted China to retaliate in kind. —VDS, GMA News

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