The Philippines will pursue bilateral trade deals with the United States and Mexico despite the economic disruptions brought by the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
In a webinar hosted by the Philippine embassies in North America, Secretary Ramon Lopez of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said he has communicated with his counterpart in Mexico and verbally proposed hopefully to start exploring bilateral discussions with potential free trade agreement (FTA).
“Mexico has been a strong trading partner and hopefully we can start to (discuss FTA) moving forward,” Lopez said.
DTI Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said the Philippines is awaiting reply from Mexico’s side on a draft agreement on the creation of a joint economic committee (JEC) which will explore ways to expand bilateral trade and investments between the two countries.
“We start with a JEC which is a more collaborative- and partnership-based discussion as we move to a negotiation-based (discussion towards an FTA),” Rodolfo said.
With the US, Lopez continues to be committed to pursuing the FTA discussions. “However, we also depend on the timing and moves from the US side,” he said. Lopez said the Philippines is waiting for the US Trade Representative to obtain approval from the US Congress on the planned FTA.
An FTA with the US which elevates the current preferential trade status granted to Philippine exports has taken a backseat last year as Washington focused on the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.