Vice President Sara Duterte is hopeful that the government can mitigate the impact of the 20 percent tariff rate that the United States will impose on Philippine goods starting next month.

She said this during a chance interview outside the detention facility in The Hague, Netherlands, where she visited former president Rodrigo Duterte, on Wednesday, July 16.

“Well, sana hindi. Sana maganda yung preparation ng economic team ng ating administration to cushion the impact (I hope it will not. I hope the administration’s economic team has good preparation to cushion the impact),” she said.

The official expects the trade to be impacted by the new tariff rate, up from the 17 percent earlier announced.

Duterte, however, maintained that the government should have already prepared for it since there was already an expectation that the tariff rate will go up as was announced by US President Donald Trump when she assumed office.

“So, dapat meron ng plano ang ating economic team kung ano ang gagawin doon sa mga i-impose na tariffs sa ating pagnenegosyo sa United States of America (So, our economic team should have a plan already what they are going to do with the imposed tariffs on our business with the United States of America),” Duterte said.

“At dapat meron na rin team, core team doon galing sa bigger economic team na makikipag-usap, dayalogo sa kanilang counterpart doon sa US government (And there should already be a team, a core team from the bigger economic team that will negotiate, dialogue with their counterpart in the US government),” she added.

Palace officials said that trade officials are already set to negotiate lowering the tariff rate during a meeting with their US counterparts.

President Marcos himself is scheduled to meet with President Trump for their first bilateral meeting in Washington on July 20.

Meanwhile, Duterte disclosed that she told her father about the death of Rustan's executive and scion Paolo Tantoco.

She, however, said that her father did not comment on it as they had to change the topic.

“Nag-comment na ako niyan before pa. So I don't think kailangan ko ulitin yung comment ko about yung official cause of death (I already commented on that before. So, I don’t think I need to repeat my comment about the official cause of death),” she added.

The Vice President also laughed off how she was previously alleged to have spread fake news about the Rustan’s scion’s death.

“O, ako daw nagpasimuno ng fake news. Pero kasi yung hawak-hawak namin na papel, galing talaga siya doon sa hinila siya sa loob (They said I started fake news. But the paper we were holding, it really came from an insider),” she said.

A report by the LA County coroner revealed that Tantoco died from cocaine overdose.