WE are sure that the government is now taking steps to ensure the Philippines can take advantage of the 90-day window that US President Trump has given to trade partners to conclude a bilateral deal that will cure what he deemed as trade imbalances negatively affecting the American economy.
We are, however, concerned because our trade panel has not reached out to our manufacturers, particularly the industry associations belonging to the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI), to solicit inputs and position papers that we hope will be considered in formulating Manila’s negotiating strategy with Washington.
Note that trade-offs and concessions will affect not just the exporters to the US but also the domestic industries competing with US-made products. Our negotiating panel needs to consider the offensive interest of the exporters while also ensuring the competitiveness of local manufacturers and the agriculture sector.
This is why we are asking the government to immediately launch an extensive consultation with the different industries to gather inputs for Manila’s bilateral trade negotiating strategy with Washington.
We have to make sure that industries are heard so our defensive and offensive interests are balanced.
And we need to move fast because other countries have started talking to the US, including our Asian competitors.
We don’t want our exporters to lose their competitiveness in the US market if we end up not concluding a deal before the end of the 90-day pause on July 8.
The consultation process can start via the submission of position papers of the industry associations indicating their negotiating stance and “wish lists” for incorporation in the notes of the government’s trade panel.
For the FPI’s part, we are now also urging our member-industry associations to prepare brief and direct-to-the-point position papers and immediately submit them to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to speed up the process.
Trump suspended the implementation of his administration’s reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to allow time for bilateral negotiations with trade partners. Currently, the US is implementing the baseline 10 percent tariffs. After this period, the Philippines is looking at a 17-percent reciprocal tariff should it fail to close a deal with the US, plus a host of other additional levies, including the so-called Section 232 tariffs.
I commend the Philippine Association of Battery Manufacturers (PABMA) for taking the initiative of submitting its position to the government via a letter sent to the Office of the President and the DTI.
In the letter signed by my tukayo, PABMA President Jesus R. Montemayor, who is also our president at FPI, the group said it is ready to provide inputs and even share its views on a possible negotiating stance concerning automotive batteries in case the Philippine and US trade negotiators need to compare tariffs and non-tariff/technical barriers to trade on a per-product basis.
PABMA also indicated that it is open to the idea of having a low applied tariff on US-made automotive batteries in exchange for a reciprocal level of tariff for Philippine-made batteries entering the American market.
Remember that Trump is not only concerned about tariffs but also the non-tariff barriers, technical barriers to trade, and trade facilitation policies that are affecting American exporters. Our members can also help the Philippine negotiators on these technical aspects.
As Trump said, this is tit for tat. As the people on the ground, we are in a good position to help the government determine what we can give and take.
We are just a call or an e-mail away. The FPI and its member-industry associations are ready to work with our trade panel to make sure we can come up with a well-balanced negotiating strategy at the soonest possible time.
Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza is the chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries and Fight Illicit Trade; a broad-based, multisectoral movement intended to protect consumers, safeguard government revenues and shield legitimate industries from the ill effects of smuggling.
