Amid threats of higher tariffs imposed by the United States globally, the United Kingdom will “turbocharge” its investment and trade relations with the Philippines across key sectors, British Ambassador to Manila Laure Beaufils said.

UK Ambassador to the Philippines Laure Beaufils speaks at the media reception held in her Makati residence on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Raymund Antonio/MANILA BULLETIN)

In a media reception hosted by the ambassador in her residence in Makati City on Wednesday night, April 23, she took note of the high level of trade and investment between the two countries last year that led to the ministerial-level Joint Economic and Trade Committee.

“In that event, we agreed to fully turbocharge our work on a few key sectors, where we expect to see a lot more infrastructure, renewable energy, agriculture, in particular in defense and tech as well,” she said.

The UK government also made available a £5-billion (P380 billion) funding through UK finance export to support British businesses in the Philippines.

“So, we're really wanting that money to be well used to do more business in support of the government's innovations and infrastructure and defense and agriculture, in particular,” the ambassador added.

This happens despite concerns over the US’ new tariff policy that imposed skyrocketing-high tariff rates on goods entering the world’s largest economy.

Beaufils shared that the UK is currently in discussion with member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the help needed to buffer the impact of the US tariffs, but that “we’re all trying to see how this will pan out before we make any such decisions.”

“Now, in terms of the tariffs, we're discussing this with every country in the region. We're working with ASEAN. We're thinking about how we can support countries to continue their economic development trajectory and their growth and their inclusive growth in particular, so that the tariffs don't have negative impacts,” she furthered.

Balanced trade

Unlike with other countries, there is balanced trade between the Philippines and the UK, with both countries enjoying the current trade exchange of £2.8 billion, the highest it has ever been.

“That's 15 percent higher than it was last year, and again, very encouraging. One of the reasons that our trade is very interesting, I think, is because it's very balanced between exports and imports, which is, of course, not the case everywhere, and that's very much appreciated by the government of the Philippines,” Beaufils explained.

The balance in trade was largely attributable to the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), the country’s version of the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP Plus), a special incentive scheme offered by the European Union (EU) to countries that have ratified and effectively implemented around 27 international conventions on human rights, environmental protection, and good governance.

The scheme suspends a portion of EU tariffs, allowing participating countries to export their products to EU states without paying taxes.

The UK’s trade scheme allowed 18 percent of Filipino products to enter the UK market tariff-free. Last year, that resulted in £1.35 billion worth of tariff-free Philippine exports.

This produced a conducive investment environment, allowing some 200 British companies, such as the likes of HSBC, H&E, InterShell, AstraZeneca, Arup, GSK, Bartonies, Venture, and many others, to prosper in the country.

Tech sector

Beaufils revealed that small and medium enterprises from the UK also “show a level of interest that we've not seen before” in the cyber and tech sector in the Philippines.

“Tech is a particularly exciting sector for us. We are one of three countries that has a $1 trillion tech economy. US, China, and UK are the only three countries that have that. So we've really invested heavily in doing more on tech with the Philippines,” she said, adding that the UK hosted last month the first UK-Southeast Asia Tech News in Manila.

“The fact that it was hosted in Manila is a recognition, again, that there's so much happening in the tech space here, and it's become such an attractive ecosystem.”