Philippines eyes exemption from new US tariffs
Manila has urged Washington to exempt all or at least some Philippine exports from a proposed 12.5-percent tariff targeting major US trading partners found to have failed to prohibit the importation of goods produced through forced labor.
In comments submitted to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) argued that the Philippines has a “proven track record” in combating forced labor and that there is no evidence showing Philippine exports to the United States were produced using such practices.
This was despite the agency acknowledging that the Philippines has yet to adopt a specific statutory ban on the importation of goods made through forced labor—an absence that the DTI argued is offset by existing enforcement mechanisms and voluntary public-private sector initiatives.
“The Philippines has long demonstrated that its locally produced goods, including those exported to the US, do not rely on forced labor,” the DTI said in one of its submissions, filed by Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo.
In a separate filing, Trade Undersecretary Allan Gepty argued that “the mere absence of an explicit import prohibition does not automatically mean that the current policy and practices of the Philippines are unreasonable, discriminatory, and causes burden or restrict US commerce.”
These submissions directly challenge the USTR’s findings that the Philippines, along with 53 other major US trading partners, had failed to effectively prohibit imports produced through forced labor, creating what Washington described as an “unlevel playing field” that burdens US commerce.
