The Philippines is now more confident on discussing with the United States a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) under the Trump administration.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said on Thursday that looking at the track record of US President Donald Trump, a Philippine-US FTA is more possible under the second term of the newly sworn-in Trump.

“Because if you look at President Trump during his first administration, he was actually the only recent US President that welcomed a bilateral FTA with the Philippines,” he said.

During Trump’s visit in the Philippines in 2017 for the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit, Trump welcomed the suggestion of the Philippine government to have a bilateral free trade deal with the US.

The DTI official recalled that US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer in July 2018 testified in the US Congress that the PH-US FTA is a "good first bilateral trade pact" of the Trump administration following the renegotiations on the North American FTA (NAFTA).

Lighthizer’s chief of staff Jamieson Greer has been nominated by Trump as USTR for his second term, which Rodolfo considered as a welcome development to push for PH-US free trade deal.

“I think, they would maintain the same welcoming attitude for a bilateral FTA with the Philippines,” he said.

“Because if you look at the reason why President (Joe) Biden was very hesitant on a bilateral, even an announcement, or no key Philippine interest for a bilateral FTA agreement, it's because they didn't control, at that time, the Congress. And they didn't have a trade promotion authority mandate to negotiate an FTA with anyone. But it's a different story with President Trump, as the Republicans now control both houses,” he added.

Rodolfo said that US Department of State Secretary Marco Rubio filed in 2020, when he was a senator, a Philippines-US Strategic Economic and Security Partnership Act to have closer bilateral relation in the critical minerals sector.

“Looking at what happened in the congressional hearings, looking at the confirmation process of the key officials, key Cabinet secretaries in Trump's administration, we really foresee a net positive impact on Philippines-US relations,” he said.

Rodolfo emphasized that with these developments in the US, “the Philippines will push really for bilateral FTA with the US."