The Philippine government has pushed back against a United States (US) probe, asserting that its labor and trade policies neither enable forced labor nor disadvantage American businesses. In an April 14 position paper seen by Manila Bulletin, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary...
The United States (US) has once again flagged corruption as a major barrier to trade and investment with the Philippines, as recent efforts to clean up regulatory and judicial processes have failed to yield positive results. In this year’s National Trade Estimate (NTE) report, the Office of the...
The Philippines has once again secured a quota of 145,235 metric tons raw value (MTRV) of raw cane sugar at a lower tariff rate for the upcoming fiscal year (FY), according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). In a statement over the weekend, the USTR announced that the...
The Philippines remains absent from the United States (US) government’s infamous list of countries flagged for issues on safeguarding intellectual property (IP) rights for the 12th straight year. In the 2025 Special 301 Report by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), released...
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has flagged corruption and a flurry of other barriers to trade with the Philippines that the US government seeks to dismantle, in a report released just days before President Donald Trump’s announcement of reciprocal...
American filmmakers have expressed alarm over the popularity of video streaming site LokLok in the Philippines and its Southeast Asian neighbors. In a comment submitted this month to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for its 2024 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and...
The Department of Information and Communications and Technology (DICT) is expected to come up with its audit on the use of software in government offices to put an end to persistent complaint by the US Trade Representative (USTR) of Philippine government offices’ continued use of pirated computer...
The Philippines emerged as the fifth biggest user of the US Generalized System of Preferences in 2020 amid a decline in total claims by beneficiary countries under the preferential trade program, according to the latest report of the US Trade Representative (USTR). The 2021 Trade Policy Agenda and...
