The Philippines backs a unified response by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the tariffs that the United States will impose globally starting April 9, 2025.
This, as Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s economic team will meet on April 8 to discuss the government’s action to the reciprocal tariffs ordered by US President Donald Trump.
“We are really going to do that,” Roque said, “Yes, of course, as we all work together as ASEAN.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim earlier said he had telephone discussions with other ASEAN leaders, including Marcos, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Singaporean President Lawrence Wong, and Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, to coordinate an ASEAN-wide response to the US reciprocal tariffs.
ASEAN member-states will be the one of the hardest hit with Trump’s new tariff order, slapping Cambodia with 49 percent tariff, Laos with 48 percent, Vietnam with 46 percent, Myanmar with 46 percent, Thailand with 36 percent, Indonesia with 32 percent, Malaysia with 24 percent, and the Philippines with 17 percent.
“We view with guarded optimism that the recent US imposition of reciprocal tariffs will provide strategic opportunities for the Philippines to improve its economic relationship with the US. As we have expected, the Philippines is among the least hit among key exporters to the US,” Roque earlier said.
In 2024, the US imported $14.2 billion from the Philippines, which increased by 6.9 percent from 2023 level, while it exported $9.3 billion. This left the US with a trade deficit of $4.9 billion with the Philippines in 2024, the US Trade Representative data showed.
According to the DTI, US accounted for 17 percent of Philippine exports in 2024.
Bulk of the Philippine outbound shipment to the US are electronic products, or sharing 53 percent of the total exports to the US.
“Overall, about 10 percent of our total trade involves the US,” Roque said.
She said there are Philippine goods exempted from the reciprocal tariffs such as copper ores and concentrates, and integrated circuits, among others.
Roque cited another opportunity for the Philippines amid the new tariff imposition.
She said the lower tariff for the Philippines than Thailand will make the former’s coconut products cheaper in the US market.
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