Philippines reaffirms support for Indo-Pacific trade deal

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has reaffirmed its support for the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) to promote greater trade and investment flows.

In a statement yesterday, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the country conveyed its support in the Informal Ministerial Meeting on the Trade Pillar of the IPEF in Paris, France last June 11.

The meeting was led by US Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai and attended by all framework partners that joined the official launch of the IPEF last month such as Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Fiji, which has decided to participate in the framework after its official launch, also joined the meeting in Paris.

During the meeting, Tai underscored the goals for the future negotiations of the IPEF on the following pillars: trade; supply chain; clean energy, decarbonization, and infrastructure; and tax and anti-corruption.

“We see the IPEF as a framework providing incentives to our stakeholders, tied up with the reforms that we are already undertaking domestically, through having a mechanism to link the Trade Pillar with pillars on supply chain resiliency and green energy transition,” DTI Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said.

“We also see this as a vehicle to spur investments from the private sector in these areas,” he said.

To achieve post-pandemic economic recovery and supply chain resiliency, the Philippines, along with other framework partners pushed for securing partners’ commitment for a free flow of critical goods like food, fuel, and medicine.

Rodolfo said the Philippines would want remaining Association of Southeast Asian members to be invited in the IPEF at the most opportune time.

Through the IPEF launched last May 23, the US aims to strengthen its economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.

IPEF partner countries seek to operationalize shared objectives around trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply chain resiliency, decarbonization and clean energy, infrastructure, worker standards, and other areas of shared interest.

Last year, the Philippines’ total trade with current IPEF partners amounted to $106.89 billion, accounting for 53.71 percent of its total trade with the world.

The Philippines’ top trading partners among IPEF countries are Japan, the US, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand.