A top official of the US-Philippines Society said the Biden administration is not keen on forging a free trade agreement with the Philippines.
“I don’t sense an appetite in the administration in Washington for new initiatives toward bilateral or even regional trade policy negotiations,” said the group’s executive director Hank Hendrickson in his remarks at the GlobalBiz Forum yesterday.
But Hendrickson said the two governments will remain active on trade and investment promotion and facilitation through vehicles like assistance available under the International Development Finance Corporation, the US Embassy in Manila, the US Agency for International Development and the State Department.
“While there’s not an expectation for broader trade policies, (both) governments will engage on issues of specific concerns,” Hendrickson said, citing as one example the ongoing lobby by the Philippines for the renewal of the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
“GSP extension could be a negotiation to watch closely during the review period that will come,” he said. GSP provides duty-free access on a number of exports to the US.
Hendrickson said companies will also benefit from tapping the experience of non- governmental associations like the US-Asean Business Council and the chamber of commerce and the US Philippines Society in enhancing relations between the two countries.
The planned FTA was first hatched in 2018 as then the Trump administration had a strong preference for bilateral arrangements, leading the Philippines to craft initial studies on the deal.
“There was progress but for a variety of reasons, formal bilateral trade agreement was not achieved,” Hendrickson said.
Instead, the US and the Philippines took steps under a trade and investment framework agreement to improve the overall environment.
Kenneth Yap, commercial counsellor of the Philippine embassy in Washington, in the same forum, expressed hope the Philippines will have a positive engagement with the US Trade Representative (USTR) on an FTA.
Last November, Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo informally met with his counterpart Assistant USTR Dawn Shackleford to express the Philippines’ desire to explore an FTA.
Yap said the US remains the Philippines’ biggest export market, with shipments up 25 percent in 2021 from 2020 despite the pandemic.
“The US has been focused on the pandemic and domestic issues. We are hopeful this year we will have a positive engagement with USTR on an FTA,” he added.
