Inconsequential

When news broke that US President Donald Trump lowered the tariff on Philippine products by only one percent, opinion leaders were torn between mocking the pittance of "goodwill" or coming to terms with the reality that "beggars can't be choosers."

- CITO BELTRAN

The lowering of the tariff from 20 percent down to 19 percent registered more as "consuelo de bobo" or "consolation prize for the stupid," especially after the US side said the Philippine President was such a tough negotiator. That remark, if accurate, was even more stupid and cruel.

I tried my best to put a positive spin to an otherwise ugly situation and the best I could come up with is to declare, "We are not beggars—we have a choice." We can take our business elsewhere. We can choose who to partner with. We can seek out better trade terms in other markets.

The fact that bigger and more powerful nations got nowhere or less than they had hoped to negotiate with Trump should have served as advance warning to Philippine negotiators. Unfortunately, we presumed that we would get special treatment from "Big Brother."

On the bright side, when pundits declared "beggars can't be choosers," many Filipinos had a rude awakening and realized that we have acted as "beggars" for the longest time to our own disadvantage and the begging bowl is empty.

We believed in a historical lie and thought we could use it to our advantage with Trump. Anyone claiming the negotiations went well is simply saving face after being insulted in front of the whole world.

Such a rude awakening brings us to the crossroads of reality.