Acidre: Ensure PH economic resilience amid US’ retaliatory tariffs

MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker on Saturday expressed trust that the government will continue to work on ensuring the Philippines’ economic resilience and attract more foreign direct investments, following the retaliatory tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

House Assistant Majority Leader Jude Acidre of Tingog Party-list also called on concerned officials to make an in-depth analysis of the economic direction of the foreign country.

READ: Malacañang says 17% tariff from US on PH goods has ‘minimal impact’

But Acidre also believes the Philippines is “not necessarily directly affected” by Trump’s retaliatory tariffs.

“Nandiyan ang OFW, nandiyan po ‘yung direct foreign investments sa ating bansa. Wala ho tayong nakikita, kasi usually sa exports po nagkakaroon ng epekto at maging ganun man, nakita rin natin hindi rin ganun kataas ang retaliatory tariff na i-impose sa ating exports mula sa Pilipinas,” Acidre said, as quoted in a press release.

(There are the OFWs, and there are direct foreign investments in our country. We don’t usually see it because the effects are often seen in exports, and even so, we’ve also seen that the retaliatory tariff imposed on our exports from the Philippines is not that high.)

“Ang sa akin na lang ho ay sana ito’y gamitin natin na panahon para magmatiyag, aralin ho natin saan po talaga papunta ang Estados Unidos. I think the most challenging thing about the situation, lahat ho naka-wait and see,” he also said.

(What I hope is that we use this time to observe and study where the United States is really heading. I think the most challenging thing about the situation is that everyone is in a wait-and-see mode.)

This move by Trump showed the importance of economic resilience, he also said.

“At dito po nakikita natin ang kahalagahan ng ating ekonomic resilience. Dapat po sa mga susunod na taon at pagkakataon ay magkaroon ho ng mga hakbang upang mas lalo pang paigtingin ang ating economic resilience hindi lang ho sa pag diversify ng ating exports kundi, also sa pag papalakas pa ng ating local industries at pag attract pa ng mas maraming direct foreign investments,” he stressed.

(And here, we see the importance of our economic resilience. In the coming years and opportunities, there should be steps taken to further strengthen our economic resilience, not just by diversifying our exports, but also by further boosting our local industries and attracting more direct foreign investments.)