17% US tariff harmful to agri sector - group

DA secretary disagrees

- By JASPER EMMANUEL ARCALAS and BELLA CARIASO

Farmers are urging the government to implement proactive measures to prevent the United States' forthcoming 17 percent tariff on Philippine goods from harming the local agricultural sector.

In a statement, the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) said the government must not be complacent over the reciprocal tariffs even if the Philippines will be slapped with the second lowest rate among US trade partners.

The group argued that the higher tariff rate could still be Anti-Trump protests held in cities across US. See Page 12 detrimental to the country's farm sector as this will result in higher cost of its agricultural exports.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., however, downplayed the FFF warning.

"Their analysis is wrong," Tiu Laurel told The STAR yesterday.

"It is a campaign period. They want to be relevant." Tiu Laurel said the Department of Agriculture (DA) is still reviewing the impact of the Trump administration's decision to slap a 17-percent tariff on Philippine exports to the United States.

"Even if competing products become more expensive than ours, the fact remains that our products will still become 17 percent more expensive to the American consumer who can then decide to stop buying our products and shift to cheaper substitutes," FFF board chairman Leonardo Montemayor said.

Montemayor, a former agriculture secretary, argued that competing countries may provide additional support to their agricultural producers and exporters to offset the detrimental effect of US tariffs and maintain their advantage over the Philippines.

"In our case, farmers and exporters are basically left to fend for themselves," he said.