Businessman and US-Philippines Society co-chairman Manuel Pangilinan said Tuesday the Philippines should seriously prepare for the bilateral talks with the US on the proposed free trade agreement.

Pangilinan said the Philippines was among the four countries and blocs that the US offered a free trade deal.

“It is something that we should take seriously. The US is one of the biggest markets available to us,” Pangilinan said during the annual and US-Philippines Society business mission to the Philippines.

Aside from the Philippines, the US was hoping to forge FTAs with the United Kingdom, Japan, and the European Union.

Pangilinan said while the US might impose preferential treatment for certain food and commodities from the Philippines, the whole agreement would most likely revolve around the US Generalized System of Preferences.

US President Donald Trump approved in March 2018 the Philippines’ request for another round of the US-GSP for the next three years or until 2020. The GSP program covers 5,057 products or tariff lines, representing 47.7 percent of the total 10,600 US tariff lines.

About 3,500 of these tariff lines are open for all beneficiary developing countries while an additional 1,500 products are given to the least-developed beneficiary developing countries.

Former US Ambassador to the Philippines and US-Philippines Society co-chairman John Negroponte said both countries could mutually benefit from the FTA if they agreed “to maximize each other’s access to each other’s economy.”

“Both should be able to free up the interaction between each other’s economy. If they want inputs from the private sector, we’re happy to give them,” he said. 

Negroponte said the US-Philippines relations would be better once an FTA was in place.

Source: Manilastandard