MANILA, Philippines — Philippine exports to the United States will now face an additional 12.5-percent tariff after the US government concluded that the country has not sufficiently enforced restrictions against products made using forced labor.
The new tariff was announced Friday (Manila time) by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which recently completed an investigation involving 60 trading partners to evaluate compliance with forced labor import prohibitions.
In its report, the USTR said the Philippines had failed to effectively implement and enforce a ban on goods produced through forced labor.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer defended the move, saying the United States has long maintained strict rules against forced labor imports.
“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” Greer said.
The measure could affect Philippine exporters, as the United States remains the country’s biggest overseas market. Exports to the US totaled $13.44 billion in 2025, compared with $14.5 billion a year earlier, representing 15.9 percent of the Philippines’ overall export earnings.
Reacting to the development, Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said the latest trade action underscores the need for the Philippines to reduce its dependence on the US market by strengthening trade ties with other countries.
Ortiz-Luis also criticized the Trump administration’s tariff policy, describing it as increasingly difficult to predict.
“Trump is trying to weaponize tariffs against countries,” he said, adding that the US president continues to seek new ways to impose tariffs despite the Philippines being a long-standing American ally.
elamigo/xf
