Trade Secretary Cristina Roque on Monday assured local industries of protection against imports that will compete with their products in the domestic market.
She gave the assurance ahead of negotiations between the Philippines and the US on reciprocal tariffs.
“It’s useless to negotiate if (these) will kill (local industries). It’s wrong, it’s impossible. We will always protect Philippine industries,” Roque said in an interview on the sidelines of an event in Makati City on Monday.
Roque and Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go are scheduled to fly to Washington DC and meet with US Trade Representative (USTR) officials on the 17 percent reciprocal tariffs on Philippine imports to the US. The tariffs are currently under a 90-day suspension.
The Philippines intends to negotiate for lower tariffs on shipments to the US.
In a statement on April 3, a day after US President Donald Trump announced the reciprocal tariffs on its trading partners worldwide, Roque said the “Philippines aims to actively engage the US in a discussion to facilitate enhanced market access for its key export interests such as automobiles, dairy products, frozen meat and soybeans.”
During the interview on Monday, April 28, Roque said the Department of Trade and Industry stands firm on its April 3 statement.
“That’s really our stand,” she said, adding that when the negotiations begin, things could change.
Roque emphasized “the directive of the president is to protect the industry.”
“We expect that in one go, we can already get what we want because we’re starting at a low percentage,” she said.
“We also have good relations with the US so we’re hoping that it would not be a problem for them to lower the tariff,” she added.
Exporters told the DTI during a meeting last week they wanted the tariffs to return to how they were before.
“They have requests, they have questions. When we go there, we have to protect, first the interests of the people here,” Roque said, noting the negotiations with Washington must end in a “win-win” for both sides.
