The United Kingdom (UK) is reaffirming its strong commitment to free trade by expanding bilateral trade with the Philippines through a more robust trade preference scheme in the export market and other growth-driving sectors.

Last year, total trade in goods and services between the UK and the Philippines reached £3 billion, or approximately ₱219 billion, a three-percent increase from £2.9 billion in 2023.

UK Trade Envoy George Freeman said there is a strong potential that the value of the trade relationship could double within the next three to four years through strategic partnerships.

Freeman said 99 percent of the Philippines’ exports to the UK is tariff-free courtesy of the European nation’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), which cuts tariffs and simplifies trade rules to boost trade.

“That is a commitment to free trade. And I would gently make the point that not all countries are so committed at the moment to tariff-free trade. We are, and it's something we deeply share, because Filipinos benefit from that,” Freeman said in a media roundtable on Friday, June 20.

British Embassy Manila Director of Trade and Investment Lindsey Gilbert-Crouch said the Philippines is “one of the biggest utilizers” of DCTS. While she did not disclose the utilization rate, she noted that it is “increasing year-on-year.”

She said the goal is to reach 100-percent utilization to further drive greater exchange of goods and services.

Gilbert-Crouch said the UK is particularly looking for more exports of food products such as coconuts and mangoes, as well as artisanal products, such as leather goods.

Freeman added that he will be pushing for the greater use of the £5-billion UK Export Finance Guarantee, which is seen to be underutilized, to help finance UK firms looking to expand their presence in the Philippines.

He told reporters that he is keen to allocate more of this fund, as part of Britain’s commitment in its bilateral trade with the Philippines.

Based on data from the UK Embassy, total exports of the Philippines to the UK reached £1.8 billion last year.

On the contrary, Britain’s export to the Philippines stood at £1.2 billion.

As part of the finance guarantee, Freeman said an extra allocation has been made for the sectors of defense and security.

Alongside these programs, the British government has established SheTrades, which helps boost the exports of women entrepreneurs to the UK through DCTS.

The UK government earlier launched a new exporters’ handbook to encourage a higher utilization of the scheme.

Given the volatility in the global trade environment, Freeman said deepening trade ties with the Philippines is critical to maintain a stable relationship between two major trading partners.

“Well, I think one has to accept that we live in a dangerous world, right? The Middle East is in flames. There's a war in Europe. It's difficult to legislate for unpredictable geopolitics. You know, who would have predicted that America would put tariffs on trade with their allies?” he explained.

“So we can only take account of what we can be responsible for,” he added.

Freeman noted that it’s “too early to tell” the impact of the tariff policy of the United States (US) since the imposition of new taxes varies on each country.

What he was clear about, however, is the UK remains committed to fostering free trade as it believes that this is fundamental to freedom and free speech.