More meetings set for PH-US tariff negotiations —DTI

A series of meetings would follow after Philippine trade and economic officials met with the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in Washington, D.C. earlier this month for a trade dialogue concerning the planned 17% tariff to be slapped on the country’s goods entering the US, according to Trade Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque.

Roque, however, declined to divulge details as Philippine officials signed a non-disclosure agreement with the USTR.

On May 2, Roque, along with Economic Affairs adviser Frederick Go and Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez, met with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and tackled “mutually beneficial ways to strengthen the bilateral relations” amid the 17% tariff rate imposed by the US on Manila. 

In a chance interview with reporters, Roque said that “there’s no schedule yet” on the follow-on meetings with US trade officials.

Asked if the meetings would be held within the 90-day pause of his sweeping tariff policy, the Trade chief said, “The control is not on us, it’s on the side of the US.”

Nevertheless, she said that the Philippine side “were able to tackle all industries, we were able to represent the wants and asks of different industries.”

“Everything that we wanted to talk about was discussed in the meeting… In fact, they said we were very comprehensive… We tackled all industries that we want to tackle,” she added.

US President Donald Trump, last month, announced a sweeping reciprocal tariff policy on its trading partners, including the Philippines which would be facing a 17% tariff on its imports to the US.

Albeit it is the lowest among its Southeast Asian peers, still the Philippine government sent a delegation to Washington to seek dialogue with US officials.

Trump had argued that the trading relationship between the US and its trading partners has become “highly unbalanced,” thus the higher tariffs would be targeted on countries that have significant trade imbalances with America.

In other words, the US chief is trying to level the playing field for American industries by “reciprocating” what other states are charging them for the goods they are selling in their countries.

Data from the USTR showed that the US goods trade deficit with the Philippines stood at $4.9 billion in 2024, up 21.8% from 2023.

America's total goods trade with the Philippines amounted to about $23.5 billion in 2024, with US goods exports to the Philippines amounting to $9.3 billion, up 0.4%, while goods imports totaled $14.2 billion.

The US is the Philippines' top destination for its goods in 2024 at $58.7 billion, accounting for a lion’s share or 80.2% of the top 10 nations where it exports, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. —VAL, GMA Integrated News