US pushes bilateral trade pact
US pushes bilateral trade pact
AFP
18 March 2005
US Assistant Trade Representative Barbara Weisel yesterday urged Manila to sign a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with Washington to boost its underperforming economy and keep it globally competitive.
Ms. Weisel said a newly completed study by the Hawaii-based East-West Center think tank found that for the Philippines, "there would be a benefit of a 3.1% increase in nominal GDP (gross domestic product)" on concluding such a pact with its largest trading partner.
She said the government was also conducting a parallel study.
The economy expanded at an eight-year high of 6.1% in 2004 but it lagged many of its neighbors in both growth and foreign direct investment.
Ms. Weisel said an FTA with the US, the world’s biggest economy, would allow a partner country to stay globally competitive.
"Countries around the world are liberalizing and it is important that as this decision is considered by the Philippines government, that the importance of maintaining its relative competitiveness not just in the region but globally is carefully considered," she told a news conference.
Washington hopes to further open up its former colony’s economy particularly in the areas of services and investment.
"One of the areas that are often raised is financial services as well as telecommunications," Ms. Weisel said. "It is in those areas where both sides stand to gain."
The US has already signed an FTA with Singapore and is in the early stage of negotiating a similar agreement with Thailand under President George W. Bush’s "Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative."
Mr. Bush offered to negotiate an FTA with ASEAN member countries with which the US has a trade investment framework agreement (TIFA) and which are members of the World Trade Organization.
Ms. Weisel said the US has TIFA accords with other ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
ASEAN also includes Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
The Philippines is in bilateral FTA talks with Japan, its no. 2 trading partner, while both Japan and China have committed to have build free trade areas with the ASEAN as a group.
Ms. Weisel said US FTA standards were "higher and the process is more difficult" and involved a commitment to "structural reforms and liberalization to ensure that the FTA really achieves the results that are intended."
For the Philippines, this includes a commitment for stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights, she said.
"We are willing to take the time that is necessary to conclude an agreement," she said, adding that the two sides do not have a timetable for negotiating an FTA at this stage. — AFP
