Lopez: Philippines-US econ relations to remain stable under Trump

MANILA, Philippines – Prospects of Philippine trade and investment relations with the US under the regime of Republican Donald Trump are still looking good so far amid the US president-elect’s protectionist stance.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez is optimistic the US will maintain its policies, a move which will be beneficial for the Philippines.

“What I believe in is he is a businessman who will be after the promotion and development of businesses in the US and if that’s the thinking then it will be something that will benefit the US businesses. That includes also keeping the current liberalized environment wherein businesses there will have access to imported inputs as needed by the business,” Lopez said.

“So we expect a continuation of policies because it will be their economy that will be affected if they backtrack on many things. It’s so hard to backtrack on all these new economies where we are in already. It will make cost of doing business really high if they retract on some policies that they have right now,” he said.

The trade chief, however, admitted that it is hard to see a clear picture yet as to where the Philippines and US trade relations will go as the government currently awaits for actual policies to be implemented by Trump.

“What we are seeing are what’s written in the papers and it is so hard to base it from all the pronouncements in the papers. We have to wait for actual policies, so too early to comment,” Lopez said.

Trump has promised a protectionist trade policy as well as opposed the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which the Philippines hopes to join.

For his part, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry president George Barcelon said he believes the TPP would not be ratified by the US in the meantime.

The TPP is an economic bloc composed of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, Mexico, Malaysia, Japan, Peru, Singapore, US and Vietnam.

Joining the TPP is seen to provide more opportunities that will further strengthen the Philippines’ foothold in the global market with the country’s enterprises, workers, and consumers benefiting from bigger markets and increased foreign investments.

Barcelon also said the Philippines’ relationship with US could turn out neutral or even better in hopes that Trump would not want to meddle with other countries’ affairs.

“If the new state department doesn’t criticize extrajudicial killings, it will be okay with President Duterte. Then IT-BPO serving US shouldn’t be affected and would grow as projected,” Barcelon said.