Manila seeks tariff concession from Seoul

The Philippines will ask the South Korean government to remove its tariffs on agricultural products from the Philippines.

This is one of the issues that the Philippine delegation will raise during President Duterte’s state visit to South Korea next month.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, who will be part of the President’s entourage to South Korea, said he was expecting to hold negotiations with his South Korean counterpart on the country’s request for preferential or zero-tariff treatment for Philippine agricultural products  exported to Korea.

Currently, South Korea slaps a 30-percent tariff on Philippine agriculture exports, particularly bananas and pineapples. Nearly 90 percent of South Korean’s banana imports come from the Philippines.

“We’re asking for a zero tariff… Our proposal is to initially have the tariffs lowered to 10 percent and then, we can renegotiate the rate later,” Piñol said in an interview during the International Food Expo in Pasay City.

In a scenario where the South Korean government will not yield to this request, Piñol said they would, instead, ask the East Asian country to sign a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with the Philippines.

Piñol said he agreed with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that the trading arrangement between the Philippines and South Korea was  “unfair,” noting that fruit imports from Korea were slapped a tariff of only 5 percent by the Philippines.