The Philippines remains keen on pursuing a free trade agreement with the United States believing this would make for a stronger and sustainable economic partnership with the world’s largest economy.
Ramon Lopez, secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) , told reporters an FTA with the US, while no rush, is still in the Philippines’ horizon.
“The interest (for a bilateral FTA with US) is still there,” he said.
Lopez said there is no formal agenda on a Philippines-US FTA in this coming visit of US officials led by President Donald Trump in line with Asean.
“The US has its own agenda…of the economic and trade… pursuing FTA (with Asean) as a dialogue partner but these are ongoing discussions only. On a bilateral level, we will see if (an FTA) will be discussed,” Lopez said.
“We of course thank them (for the) GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) improvement… products and hopefully a possible FTA,” he added.
Lopez said the US has not formally expressed to the Philippines it prefers regional FTAs rather than a bilateral FTA.
“There are two sides to that… the initiative can come from either. In the end if the US says it wants a regional FTA before a bilateral (FTA), it’s up to them,” he said.
“We have GSP so (an FTA) is no rush but it is an open interest for a much stronger and more sustainable economic partnership but right now we are enjoying GSP preferential trade arrangement so we are okay,” he said.
He said the idea has reached the brainstorming level and could be a possible topic on the sidelines of bilateral talks.
“FTAs help in trade, job creation,”he said.
Source: Malaya Business Insight
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<p>Time: November 2025<br /> By: WTO and International Trade Group, Legal Department – VCCI</p>
