President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s chief economic manager believes the Philippines stands in a “good spot” as select goods exported to the United States (US) continue to enjoy tariff exemptions, despite Washington’s move to impose a sweeping 15- percent increase in import duties.

Finance Secretary Frederick D. Go told reporters on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) editors and economic opinion leaders forum on Tuesday, Feb. 24, that the Philippine government will continue to hold dialogues with its US counterparts, but the zero levy on select exports places locally made goods in a sweet spot.

“We’ll continue to engage with [the US]. So far, the majority of our semiconductors are exempted, and the majority of our key agricultural exports are exempted, so I’d say we’re in a good spot,” Go said.

Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump increased the tariffs he imposes on all trade partners, including the Philippines, by five percentage points (ppts) from his initial announcement of 10 percent.

Malaysia-based Maybank reported that the effective duties slapped on goods from the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia will drop by 1.2 ppts to 3.1 ppts.

It can be noted that the prevailing effective levies on the Philippines (17.1 percent), Vietnam (20.7 percent), and Thailand (17.2 percent) remain elevated relative to the fresh blanket tariff despite the resulting declines.

For the Philippines alone, the effective reciprocal US tariff rate dropped from 18.5 percent, easing by 1.5 ppts.

Meanwhile, Maybank noted that the gains for the Philippines are relatively modest compared with its US trading partners, as around a third of its exports bound for the US face hefty product-specific duties, while nearly the same share is tariff-free.

“Around one-third of their US shipments consist of exempted categories, but a comparable share of their exports to the US face substantive product-specific duties,” the lender said in a Feb. 23 commentary.

Even with these limited benefits, Maybank said the Philippines is still seen as among the “largely winners” in the region, citing the contraction in the effective tariff rate on US-bound exports.

Given the modest lift, Maybank has forecast the anemic 4.4-percent economic growth in 2025 to improve to 4.9 percent in 2026 and continue recovering to 5.2 percent in 2027—both of which fall below the annual targets of at least five percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.

According to the lender, the primary drivers of sustained but gradual growth are the continued benefits to Philippine exporters from the “AI [artificial intelligence] capex [capital expenditure] and infrastructure boom” and the country’s increased competitiveness compared with the previous “reciprocal” tariff regime.

As economies begin to renegotiate reciprocal tariffs, Go noted the need to open new markets for the Philippines.

“What it made clear to us is that we have to open new markets. We have to create new markets for the Philippines to trade with, to sell to. Which is why the activities being engaged in by your economic team are really important for our industries to be able to grow,” he said in his speech.

These activities include the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) involvement in more economic partnership agreements (EPAs) and free trade agreements (FTAs).

Go said the most important FTA the economic team intends and hopes to seal this year is the one with the European Union (EU).

“As ASEAN chair, the Philippines will work to strengthen regional economic cooperation, deepen prosperity corridors, and raise investor confidence across member states,” he concluded.