Free Trade Agreements

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) on Monday said the government has to step up explaining the advantages of free trade agreements or FTAs to the private sector.

Trans-Pacific Partnership best bet for Philippines THE PHILIPPINES may have to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal if it wants a trade pact with the United States, a visiting American official said on Friday.

THE PHILIPPINES should seek trade pacts with other developing countries to take advantage its peers’ growing markets, a trade expert yesterday said.

MANILA, Philippines – The government is looking at entering into free trade agreements (FTA) with six countries led by the United States to boost foreign trade.

ECONOMIC leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will assess the implementation of the free-trade agreements (FTAs) signed with dialogue partners like China, Japan, South Korea, India and Australia-New Zealand to align trade policies in preparation for the establishment of a single market economy by 2015.

SEEKING TO further open its doors to more international trade, the Philippines has expressed interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a multilateral free trade deal that involves several economies, including the country’s biggest trading partner, the United States.

The Philippines is keen on joining the negotiations for the inter-regional economic integration as well as starting informal talks with the European Union (EU) for a possible bilateral trade pact, the Trade department said.

MANILA, Philippines—After about 18 months of negotiations, the European Union and the Philippines’ Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) was initialed in Brussels Friday, June 25, the EU Delegation here said in a news release.

MANILA, Philippines – Business think tank Universal Access to Competitiveness and Trade (U-ACT) called on incoming President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III to initiate talks for the negotiation of a Philippine-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to attract more investors from Europe.

A bilateral agreement with Taiwan is not necessary because the Philippines and Taiwan already have the Joint Economic Conference, the Trade Department said.

THE INCOMING government should initiate talks for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union or else risk being left behind by Southeast Asian neighbors which are negotiating similar pacts, a private think tank yesterday said.

The Philippines and Japan took turns in defending their three-year-old bilateral free trade agreement before the World Trade Organization (WTO) highlighting the economic benefits the deal has generated for each country.

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine trade with Italy practically doubled in the past 10 years former Ambassador to Italy Philippe J. Lhuillier noted that when he arrived in Italy in 1999, Philippine – Italian trade was around $330 million-in favor of Italy. The Philippines exported $129 million and imported $201 million that year.

President-elect Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III is being pressed to submit the approved Philippine-European Union Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) to the Philippine Senate for deliberation after officials of the Philippine government and the EU recently finalized the content of the bilateral trade agreement.

MANILA, Philippines – The United States is looking  at forging a trans-Pacific partnership with Asian countries including the Philippines after the proposed ASEAN-United States multilateral agreement failed to gain ground.

Talks between China and Taiwan to complete the free trade agreement between them appear to have stalled—because the negotiators are “stuck” over some “items,” Taiwan’s prime minister said in a statement. As a result, it now doesn’t look like the two economies would not be able to conclude the agreement during this month.

ANALYSIS TAIPEI: Taiwan and China were “stuck” in negotiations on their trade pact, the island’s premier said Saturday, in the latest sign that the two sides may miss this month’s deadline for concluding the agreement.

MANILA, Philippines – Negotiations are underway to boost the bilateral trade between Russia and the Philippines from $200 million to $2 billion, Sen. Edgardo J. Angara disclosed the other day.

The next European generalized system of preferences (GSP) would provide additional liberalization for exports of developing countries such as the Philippines, according to EuroCommerce, a group representing the retail, wholesale and international trade sectors in Europe.

MANILA, Philippines – The European Union (EU) and the Philippine government have agreed on the final text of a partnership and cooperation agreement (PCA) between the two parties, EU Ambassador Alistair MacDonald said yesterday.

Trade Secretary Jesli Lapus was quoted by the media recently as saying that it is now timely for the Philippines to negotiate a free trade agreement with Taiwan following the warming of its relations with China and the imminence of an Economic Framework Agreement (ECFA) between the two. A Philippine-Taiwan FTA may be on hold…

After over two years and several rounds of intense negotiations, the Philippines and the European Union have forged an expanded economic, political and security agreement.

A coalition of sectoral organizations has asked apparent president-elect Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd to revisit trade agreements that had been entered into by the Philippines.

Principal economist Rana Hasan and consultant Karl Robert L. Jandoc at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) saw a dearth in the study of the linkages between trade liberalization and wage inequalities in Southeast Asian countries so they zeroed in on efforts to produce a paper entitled: “Trade Liberalization and Wage Inequality in the Philippines.”

HANOI (Xinhua) — Inefficient border administration and inadequate infrastructure are major barriers to trade in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), World Economic Forum (WEF) report said on Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines – Employment and investments in the country are expected to surge after the signing of the Australia New Zealand Free trade Area (AANZFTA), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said yesterday.

A clamor is growing in the business sector primarily among small entrepreneurs for the next government to review the open trade policy adopted under President Gloria Arroyo, including free trade agreements signed under her administration that would result in marginalizing local industries.

The government plans to negotiate a free trade pact with the European Union despite a growing demand from local businesses to review two similar agreements already in force which are the Asean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) and the Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa).

Trade union leaders of nations involved in talks to create the latest international trade deal—the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement (TPPTA)—are calling for the negotiations to be inclusive and open, not conducted behind closed doors with a few corporate players, as too many other deals have been.

It’s very true, as the National Economic Development Authority warns, the Philippines will be hurt economically by the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan (which still calls itself the ROC or Republic of China). The ECFA draft could be be signed in June.