Business Secretary Cristina A.
Ms. Roque and a special assistant to Frederick D.GO, President of Investment and Economic Affairs, will meet with her U.S. counterparts in Washington from April 29 to May 2.
“The purpose of the conference is to get what is best for the country, of course, to lower tariffs and to really reaffirm our continued strong relationship with the United States,” Ms. Rock told reporters at the International Philippines 2025 International Conference and Expo on Friday.
To achieve this, she said the Philippines is considering increasing U.S. imports, especially agricultural products.
She added: “So, what we will import from them, we will try to import more. Soybeans and frozen meat, so agricultural products…but we need to balance with our agricultural sector.”
Asked if the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is still on the table, she said: “We still have to see if we can actually get the FTA…but we will put all the possibilities on the table.”
Ms Rock said the Philippine economic team will meet before consolidating the journey of input from different industries to understand the country’s willingness to be on the negotiating table.
“We also want to reach a consensus, so when we decide, it’s not based on our ideas, but on consultations with different industries,” she said.
“Because we hope that whatever we negotiate, this will be the best in the Philippines industry.”
Asked about the level where they hope to drop the 17% tariff rate, Ms. Rock said it would be something that the economic team will do at the economic team meeting before the trip.
“But they (stakeholders) are lower than those of neighboring countries because once our tariffs are lower, this gives us an advantage in our business with the United States,” she said.
Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald J. Trump introduced a 10% blanket tariff to all his trading partners, but suspended a plan to impose higher reciprocity tariffs on some countries for 90 days.
Philippines exports to the United States face 17% tariffs, the second lowest tariff among the Federation of Southeast Asian countries, behind Singapore's benchmark rate of 10%. – Justin Ireland D. Table
