Duterte tirades won’t affect PH-EU trade ties

Trade Assistant Secretary Anna Ma. Rosario Diaz-Rebeniol says President Duterte’s recent tirades against the European Union (EU) will not affect ongoing trade engagement negotiations between the Philippines and the EU-member countries.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent tirades against the European Union (EU) will not affect ongoing trade engagement negotiations between the Philippines and the 28-member bloc, a trade official said.

Trade Assistant Secretary Anna Ma. Rosario Diaz-Rebeniol said the second round of negotiations with the EU to be held in the Philippines will push through in December this year.

“Since the second round is a go, it didn’t have any effect on our FTA (Free Trade Agreement) negotiations with the EU,” she said in an open forum during a stakeholders consultation on the Philippines’ proposed trade engagement with Europe in Cebu City on Wednesday.

In a speech before Davao City officials on Tuesday, Duterte criticized the EU for its call to end extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the Philippines.

Duterte said he read EU’s condemnation as an attack against him and that he will tell them “f*** you.” But Rebeniol said that the morning after reports of Duterte’s pronouncements came out, the EU confirmed that the second round of negotiations for an FTA with the Philippines will still happen. The first round of talks was held in Brussels from May 23 to 27 this year.

An FTA with the EU is necessary to more permanently secure export products in the event the country “graduates” early from the EU GSP+ (generalized system of preferences plus) program, she added.

Under the GSP+ program, the Philippines can export 6,209 product lines to the EU with zero tariff, but the country will only enjoy this benefit for 10 years.

But Rebediol said they project the Philippines to leave the program in five to seven years, given the rate the country’s economy is growing.

The agreement is also seen to help the country secure a more significant share of foreign direct investments that EU companies are pouring into the region, Rebeniol added.

The EU is the Philippines’ fourth largest trading partner with bilateral trade amounting to around P738 billion. On the other hand, the Philippines is EU’s sixth largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian (Asean) region and 44th worldwide.

No malice intended

According to Rebediol, trading partners like EU are hopefully starting to learn that the President’s language was just part of his personality and not meant to disparage foreign leaders or nations.

“He’s approaching his third month. People are slowly learning what he’s like. Even (US President) Obama in Laos said Duterte was just being himself. We don’t have to take this as an attack. There was no malicious intent,” Rebeniol added.

President Duterte made news on international media after he called President Obama a “son of a whore” before leaving for the Asean meetings in Laos, but later on expressed regret for his obscenity-laden rant.

Federico Escalona, executive director of the Philippine Exporters Confederation (Philexport) Inc. Cebu, said he was more worried about Duterte’s approach on these killings more than the language in which he communicates with other states.

“The issue the EU is looking at is the human rights aspect. It’s one of the four considerations the EU makes in choosing trade partners,” he said.

He said that in the long run, if not well explained to the international community, the President’s bloody drive against illegal drugs might harm the image of the country.

The protection of human rights, absence of child labor, presence of quality system and corporate social responsibility are among the requirements the EU imposes on traditional or prospective trade partners.

“If this continues, they could look at the Philippines as a violator,” said Escalona.

But having lived in Europe for 21 years, he said Europeans are quite open and flexible on some issues.

Cebu Business Club (CBC) president Gordon Alan Joseph, meanwhile, said he hoped there would be no consequences to Duterte’s rants but he expected a cooling of relationships between the Philippines and the EU, which considers human rights to be a major issue.

“As for the exact consequences, we can expect delays and possibly the imposition of more stringent conditions,” Joseph said.