WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump imposed a 20 percent tariff rate on imported Philippine goods.
The Philippines is one of six countries that was informed by the US in a set of letters to trading partners released on Wednesday to leaders of economies, including Brunei, Algeria, Libya and Iraq, spelling out duties ranging from 20 percent to 30 percent.
Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said in a phone message that Manila was “still planning to negotiate that down,” which was higher than the previously announced 17 percent.
Asked what rate the Philippines is looking at, Romualdez said: “Will see.”
Similar to Trump’s first batch of documents published Monday, the tariff levels were not too far from those originally threatened in April, although some partners received notably lower rates this time.
While the president in April imposed a 10 percent levy on almost all trading partners, he unveiled — and then held off on — higher rates for dozens of economies.
The deadline for these steeper levels to take effect was meant to be Wednesday, before Trump postponed it further to August 1.
Instead, countries who face these threats of elevated duties began receiving letters spelling out US tariff rates on their products.
Trump’s latest messages were near-identical to those published earlier in the week, and justified the tariffs as a response to trade ties that have been “unfortunately, far from reciprocal.”
They urged countries to manufacture products in the United States instead in order to avoid duties, while threatening further escalation if leaders retaliated to the levies.
Apart from tariffs targeting goods from different countries, Trump has also rolled out sector-specific duties on steel, aluminum and autos since returning to the White House in January.
On Tuesday, Trump said tariffs were incoming on copper and pharmaceuticals as well.
US goods trade with the Philippines reached an estimated $23.5 billion in 2024, according to data from the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
US exports to the Philippines stood at $9.3 billion, a 0.4 percent increase from 2023, while imports from the Philippines totalled $14.2 billion, up 6.9 percent year-over-year.
The resulting US goods trade deficit with the Philippines widened to $4.9 billion in 2024, marking a 21.8 percent increase from the previous year.
There was no immediate comment from the office of the Philippine president.
