DTI sees possible postponement of South Korea FTA

He said the parties are closely coordinating the FTA discussions in hopes of meeting the initial deadline in November.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea, initially scheduled for conclusion November this year, might be delayed until next year.

DTI secretary Ramon Lopez said the countries are still ironing out the conditions under the FTA. The agreement was earlier on tagged as “future-oriented” as it seeks to strengthen trade and investment collaborations focusing on technology and innovation between the countries.

Additionally, the Philippines is pushing for the elimination of tariffs on agricultural products such as banana under the FTA, in a bid to reduce its trade deficit with South Korea which has amounted to $522.10 million as of May 2019, tilting in the latter’s favor.

“Realistically, there are still challenges. We haven’t agreed with the items that we want and the kind of liberalization needed. The offers and requests are still pending and unsettled or mismatched so the question mark is if it will be finished by November,” Lopez told reporters at the sidelines of a forum in Manila on Thursday.

“(We’ll conduct) another round. Maybe we’ll revive it next year. That’s the plan B.”

Among South Korea’s conditions under the FTA is the removal of tariffs on automobile and car parts. On the other hand, the Philippines wants to eliminate the tariff imposed by South Korea on bananas and other tropical fruits.

According to Lopez, the parties have not yet come up with an agreeable timeline for the immediate reduction of tariffs on Philippine bananas, one of the country’s top export products which South Korea imposes a 30 percent import duty on. The country wants to reduce the import duty to five percent.

“Immediate reduction, because you can’t have it in one year, so how many years — from what to what and how many years. We thought we could get it earlier or it would somehow be given earlier,” Lopez said.

Still, he said the parties are closely coordinating the FTA discussions in hopes of meeting the initial deadline in November, in time with the Republic of Korea-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Commemorative Summit and the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and South Korea.

The FTA was the fastest to be concluded after the countries confirmed “common understanding” to push for the agreement in April this year. The launch of bilateral negotiations followed in June.