DOF: PH to continue engaging with US amid Trump’s new 10% global tariff

The Philippine government is unfazed by US President Donald Trump’s swift announcement of a new 10% global import tariff policy, which replaced his sweeping “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariff regime struck down by the US Supreme Court.

“On the part of the Philippines, we will continue to engage with the US,” Finance Secretary Frederick Go told GMA News Online on Saturday.

Go was President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s special assistant for Investment and Economic Affairs, who led the negotiations for additional exemptions and to bring down the tariff rate charged on Philippine goods entering America to 19%.

He took over the helm of the Department of Finance in November last year, replacing Ralph Recto who is now Marcos' executive secretary.

“US remains an important trading and investment partner, and a stable and predictable arrangement with the US will be very beneficial to our stakeholders both foreign and domestic,” the Finance chief said.

On Saturday (Philippine time), Trump signed executive orders late on Friday to impose new tariffs starting on Tuesday under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, partly replacing tariffs of 10% to 50% under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act that the top court declared illegal, and ending collection of the now-banned duties.

Trump’s latest orders continued exemptions already in place.

In the case of the Philippines, exempted products covered in the US chief executive’s previous tariff policy include exports of electronics and semiconductors and agricultural produce such as coconuts, pineapples, bananas, and mangoes.

In a commentary, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said, “[Finance] Secretary Go had previously explained that the majority of our exports were already exempted even before this US SC decision.”

The US high tribunal ruled that Trump’s sweeping tariffs that he implemented under International Emergency Economic Powers Act or IEEPA was illegal as the said law he used did not grant him authority to impose tariffs as the US Constitution grants Congress, not the president, the authority to issue taxes and tariffs. —GMA Integrated News