Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, Secretary Frederick Go is seeking media’s help in writing good news, and not just the bad ones, particularly where it concerns the recent pronouncement of United States President Donald Trump in imposing a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made semiconductors.

This move by the US President is of particular concern to semiconductor stakeholders , especially the 19 percent levy on all US-bound Philippine exports.

During the Economics Journalists Association of the Philippines Economic Forum 2025 at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in Manila on Monday, Secretary Go seemingly told members of the media not just to dwell on the worst-case scenario regarding the issue, but to consider the brighter side of Trump’s ever-changing pronouncements.

“Let me also answer the best-case scenario, to be fair. I think the best-case scenario, as it is often said, is when there is a tariff imposed on all, then there is almost no tariff. That means everybody is reduced to a level playing field. For example, if the DoF (Department of Finance) imposes a VAT of 15 percent on everybody, then there's no disadvantage to any retailer, because everybody is uniform at 15,” he said.

“So, if the US imposes a semiconductor tariff on all countries, then it is as if there is no tariff, because then that becomes a level playing field for all,” Go explained.

Catastrophe

Earlier, Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI) president Danilo Lachica said the pronouncement of Trump would be a catastrophe for all players in the semiconductor industry, causing companies to pull out their investments in the Philippines and set up shop in the US.

This was allayed by Secretary Go, stating that it would be very costly for semiconductor companies to re-shore their manufacturing facilities in the US.

“If you believe that every company in the world will shut down their operations all over the world and reopen them all to America; if you believe that the labor force of America will want to do assembly testing and packaging, which is highly manual job; and if you believe that all these companies will abandon all their operations in the Philippines within a certain period, or if you believe that the whole world order will change, then that’s the worst case scenario,” Go said.

Go said it’s time to think what is best, and not the worst, for the country.

Go maintained that nothing is final yet on both the 19 percent tariff and the 100 percent tariff on semiconductors, stating that they are still lobbying the matter to their US counterparts.