MANILA - The Philippines is looking to negotiate the 12.5 per cent tariff slapped by the United States (US) on Philippine exports over its supposed failure to curb importation of goods produced with forced labour, Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported.
In a text message on Friday, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said Manila "will look to lowering it to at least 10 per cent.”
"We have been in continuous discussion. Technically, 12.5 per cent is still much lower than the previous 19 per cent, which was scrapped by the US Supreme Court,” he said.
"We are going to negotiate on the basis that we will remove the child labour goods from our list of exports if it is proven to be so,” he added.
The envoy said Trade Undersecretary Allan Gepty is heading the negotiation team.
The US Trade Representative (USTR) on Friday announced that the Trump administration is imposing tariffs on 60 economies, including the Philippines, for failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour. - BERNAMA