PH optimistic about forging FTA with US under 2nd Trump admin

The Philippines is optimistic that a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States will be forged under the second administration of US President Donald Trump, who earlier signified interest in expanding economic cooperation between the two countries.

According to Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez, the country has a “good chance” of entering into an FTA with the US this time.

“We’ve had some discussions during the first Trump administration on how to proceed with the FTA, but that obviously was abbreviated. But we have a chance to renew that,” he told a media briefing in Makati City on Tuesday.

Trump, who repeatedly spoke about tariffs and immigration issues during his third run for the White House, defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the election last November to succeed Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in 2020.

Trump returned to power on January 20, 2025.

During his first term as US president, Trump met with then-President Rodrigo Duterte in Manila in 2017 to discuss shared interests, during which the two leaders released a joint statement recognizing the importance of regular discussions under the US-Philippines Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).

“The US side welcomed the Philippines’ interest in a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), and both sides agreed to discuss the matter further through the US-Philippines TIFA,” the two leaders said in a joint statement released in November 2017.

Romualdez noted, however, that he was advised by former US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that a “sectoral” type of agreement would provide better opportunities, such as agreements on minerals and semiconductors.

“There are a lot of defense contractors or manufacturers. Some of them can be done here already. Manufacturing of ammunition, for instance, these are the things that we are trying to look at,” he said.

“That’s one particular area where we can work with the US. As I said, that’s a good mix because it’s both economic and defense. It’s an investment that we can work with into manufacturing some of these things instead.''

GSP renewal

Given that Republicans currently hold a majority in Congress, Romualdez stated that there is a strong chance that the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) will be renewed.

“We’re confident that we’ll be able to pass that through within this coming Congress… Now that the Republicans are the majority, hopefully we’ll be able to work more closely with them to be able to push it more quickly,” he said.

Products from the Philippines and 121 other beneficiary nations and territories enjoyed duty-free entry into the US under the US GSP, which expired in 2020.

Romualdez said that there are a number of countries currently working to have the GSP revived, but there are issues being raised that are not necessarily related to the Philippines, along with bargaining chips that American lawmakers want.

The ambassador said the country will still have to wait and see how the Philippines will be impacted by the impending trade war between the US and China, the world’s two biggest economies.

“Generally, I think it’s an opportunity for us to do more with the US if they’re going to have that kind of importation market trade war with China, because we want to continue to have good economic relations with China,” he said.

“Obviously the main issue with us continues to be the West Philippine Sea. We just have to face up to that reality,” he added.  —VBL, GMA Integrated News