High-stakes trade blitz inbound
The high-level US Presidential Trade Mission was a commitment of Biden during the official visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the US.
The Philippines and the United States share huge expectations for a top-level American trade mission that US President Joe Biden had organized.
The economic team’s visit is set for 11 to 12 March and will be led by US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The White House named 22 high-level executives participating in the trade mission, including Steven Brown, president, GreenFire Energy Inc.; Sapna Chadha, vice president, Southeast Asia and South Asia Frontier, Google Asia Pacific; Narsingh Chaudhary, president, Asia Pacific and India, Black and Veatch Corp.; Chris Clark, chairperson, Asia Pacific Visa Inc.; Mark Ein, chairperson, President’s Export Council; Charlie Ergen, co-founder and chairperson, EchoStar/DISH; Kimberly Getgen, founder and CEO, InnovationForce; Brett Hart, president, United Airlines; Laura Lane, executive vice president and chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer, United Parcel Service and Rich Lesser, global chair, Boston Consulting Group.
Other delegation members include David Luboff, partner, head of Asia Pacific Infrastructure and co-head of KKR Asia Pacific; Thomas L. Marquis, co-founder, vice president and director of marketing, Marquis; Scott McHugo, CEO and chairperson, Sol-Go; Sara Murphy, president, Capital One Philippines; Ted Osius, president and CEO, US-ASEAN Business Council; Anne-Marie Padgett, regional president, East Asia and Pacific, Bechtel; Allan Pineda (aka Apl.de.Ap), founder, Apl.de.Ap Foundation International; Kawal Preet, president of Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa Region, FedEx; Shamina Singh, founder and president, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and executive vice president, sustainability, Mastercard; Mary Snapp, vice president, Global Strategic Initiatives, Office of the President, Microsoft Corp.; Eric Starr, co-founder and CEO, UltraPass ID; and Francesco Venneri, founder and CEO, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp.
Biden’s commitment
The high-level US Presidential Trade Mission was a commitment Biden made during the official visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the US.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson had said the mission would reinforce the Philippines as a “key hub for regional supply chains and high quality investment.”
Watson said the mission aims to enhance US companies’ contributions to the Philippines’ innovation economy, connective infrastructure, clean energy transition, critical minerals sector and food security.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority expressed optimism the trade and investment mission would increase US companies’ investment portfolio in the country’s economic zones.
Partners also in trade
The Department of Trade and Industry likewise hailed the arrival of the high-level business mission, saying it would improve the business partnerships of both countries.
“The discussions during the visit will focus on enhancing our trade and investment relations,” said DTI foreign trade service officer Jollan Margaret Llaneza during a forum.
“Our goal here is, of course, to foster relationships between our Philippine business sector with their American counterparts so we will have commercially meaningful partnerships,” she said.
Llaneza noted that in terms of trade and investments, the US is one of the Philippines’ top three trading partners, along with Japan and China.