THE Philippines will lobby Washington to exempt its semiconductor exports from a proposed 100 percent US tariff, a senior economic official said Monday.
Frederick Go, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s special assistant for investment and economic affairs, said Manila hopes the United States will recognize the country’s niche in assembly, testing and packaging — which US chipmakers typically outsource.
“We’ve told them that this part of the process is something US companies have long chosen to do abroad,” Go said at the EJAP Economic Forum in Manila. “We’re hoping it’s viewed in that light.”
The US tariff plan has seesawed — announced, withdrawn, then revived last week — and remains “a gray space,” Go said.
The government is seeking clarification from the US Trade Representative and plans to push for an exemption. Other chip-exporting nations are making similar appeals.
The Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines Inc. warned the measure would be “devastating,” noting semiconductors account for 70 percent of the country’s exports, with 15 percent bound for the US.
If applied globally, Go said, the levy would leave all exporters on “a level playing field.”
He noted the Philippines does not face the harsher 40-percent tariff imposed on Vietnam and still offers investment incentives under the Public-Private Partnership Act and the CREATE law.
Rafaelita Aldaba, emeritus fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said US President Donald Trump’s tariff threat — if enforced — would raise risks for chip-reliant economies such as the Philippines and Malaysia.
Removing current exemptions, she said, “would reduce the country’s effective tariff shield.”
