PH sees US...

But Rodolfo said that under the TIFA both countries have already closed most of their issues, making the planned bilateral FTA a bit easier to accomplish.

“We have no issues on intellectual property, no labor issue. We have closed our gaps as we’ve amended our Public Services Act,” he said noting that the “Philippines is not doing these efforts because of the possible FTA but because this is important for our competitiveness, because industries form the backbone of the country.”

The Philippines cited the growing trade between the two countries where the latter enjoy a little trade surplus, largely due to the country’s eligibility of the US-GSP, which grants preferential and duty-free entry of some Philippine products to the US. In 2017, GSP exports accounts for 17.6 percent of Philippine exports to the US, valued at $1.492 billion. Leading GSP exports include tires, sugar, electronics, and fruit and vegetable juices.

At least 75 percent of the Philippines total exports to the US are already granted dutyfree status or preferential import duty under the US-GSP.

Over the past decade, twoway trade between the United States and the Philippines has grown by more than 25 percent.

According to the US Trade Representative, the Philippines is currently its 31st largest goods trading partner with $21.3 billion in total (two way) goods trade during 2018. Goods exports totaled $8.7 billion while goods imports totaled $12.6 billion. The US goods trade deficit with the Philippines was $3.9 billion in 2018, a 22.5 percent increase ($716 million) over 2017.

In 2017, US foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Philippines reached $7.1 billion in 2017, a 12.5 percent increase from 2016. US direct investment in Philippines is led by manufacturing, wholesale trade, and professional, scientific, and technical services.