THE Philippines is eyeing a free trade deal with the United States while waiting for the renewal of its eligibility to the US GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) program which expired in 2020, a trade official said yesterday.
The GSP is a trade program that provides duty-free importation of select goods from eligible developing countries.
Angelo Salvador Benedictos, director of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Bureau of International Trade Relations, said the Philippines is waiting for the decision of the US Congress regarding the GSP grant.
“We’re waiting for what’s happening in the US Congress and we’d like to renew the GSP benefit,” Benedictos said during the launch of the US-Philippines Economic Impact Study by the Ateneo School of Government.
But Benedictos said a free trade agreement (FTA) is also preferred.
“We’d like to have an FTA with the US. We believe this is a more permanent mechanism compared to GSP. When both sides are ready probably this will happen,” he said.
He said the US is the Philippines’ fifth largest source of investment in 2022 amounting to P5.06 billion.
The friendlier relations between the two countries under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration have increased the interest of foreign investors, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez earlier said.
In January 2023, the US was among the top 3 sources of foreign direct investments. It was also the country’s top source of cash remittances.
The US must also offer trade concessions since the Philippines’ participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) “will be a gravitational pull towards China,” said Foundation for Economic Freedom President Calixto Chikiamco.
US Embassy in the Philippines Senior Commercial Officer Paul Taylor said President Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework aims to deepen the US’ economic relations in the region.
“The Philippines is a very strategic and important part of that relationship,” Taylor said. (ABS-CBN News)
