MANILA: The Philippines will seek to bring down its US tariff rate to zero from the 17 per cent earlier announced by President Donald Trump during talks with officials in Washington, the South-East Asian nation’s trade chief said.
"The expectation is we hope to get what’s best for us and the aim is to really lower the tariff so that we have a trade edge,” Philippines Trade Secretary Cristina Roque told reporters Monday (April 28).
Roque is set to meet with American commerce and trade officials in the US this week. The Philippines has offered to purchase more farm products from the US ahead of the talks, similar to efforts by other South-East Asian nations.
While the US levy on Philippine goods is much lower compared with its Asian neighbours like 36 per cent for Thailand and 46 per cent for Vietnam, Manila is hoping to secure a better deal with the US - a longtime ally - during a 90-day window in which Trump paused the implementation of the tariffs.
Roque has said the Philippines plans to boost imports of US agricultural goods including soybeans and frozen meat to get a lower tariff rate. The government is also eyeing more shipments of semiconductors, coconut and mango products to the US.
"They might have other asks from us that we will only know when we get there,” Roque said.
US trade with the Philippines totaled around US$23.5 billion in 2024, with Washington recording a deficit of US$4.9 billion with Manila, according to US government data. That compares with a deficit of US$45.6 billion with Thailand and US$123.5 billion with Vietnam. - Bloomberg
