This has been circulating online, and many Filipinos don’t seem impressed with the news. Before the president's visit, the tariff was 20%, and now it's 19%. They're calling it a “significant win,” but for real - is it?
He’s the only one calling it a victory; he is just fooling himself by saying that. The Philippine government is set to lose billions of pesos in lost tariffs due to the zero tariff the Philippines granted to the US.
This is the most unfair trade deal; a 0% to 19% range is unacceptable, and Trump has disrespected his longest ally with this deal.
“I can already tell everyone, as it’s come out already, that we managed to bring down the 20% tariff rate for the Philippines to 19. Now, 1% might seem like a very small concession. However, when you put it into – in real terms, it is a significant achievement,” Marcos said in a media interview released on Wednesday, July 23.
Marcos attributed the “special relationship” between the US and the Philippines.
He’s not a good negotiator, but a weak President; he’s nothing compared to his father. There are still three years in office, but things are getting worse in his administration. The Philippines should learn from PBBM's action that they should not elect a weak president again.