PH excludes farm products from RCEP tariff cuts

The Philippines has exempted most of the farm produce, including rice, and some industrial products such as cement and auto parts from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to shield these domestic industries from the impact of the mega trade deal that opens 98.1 percent of the country’s tariff lines to cheap imports. This was revealed by Trade and Industry Assistance Secretary Allan B. Gepty at that RCEP Virtual Presser where he assured local producers of continued protection especially for the agriculture sector from the impact of the mega fair trade deal that spans 15 countries. The Philippines has liberalized 98.1 percent of its tariff lines, mostly intermediate and capital goods. According to Gepty, aside from rice, some examples of excluded product from the agri sector are live swine, meat, potatoes, onion shallots, garlic, broccoli, cabbage, coffee beans, maize, and sugar. Some of the exempted industrial products are cement, lead acid batteries autoparts, ...