EU-Philippines free-trade pact joins Brussels’ growing ‘harvest’ of Asia deals

An EU pact with the Philippines is the latest of a “positive crop” and “harvest” of free trade deals unveiled by the EU Commission on Tuesday(21 September).

EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told reporters that the agreement signed off by commission president Ursula von der Leyen and the Philippines’ president Ferdinand Marcos would scrap tariffs covering more than 94 percent of tariff lines on 97 percent of goods.

That, say EU officials, should lead to an increase in EU exports of €2.01-2.69bn.

The deal approved by Šefčovič and the Philippines’ trade minister Cristina Roque now needs to be transcribed into a legal text and would likely enter into force in early 2028.

The main beneficiary is likely to be the EU’s farming sector. The bloc currently runs an agriculture trade surplus of €600m that is likely to increase, as part of overall trade that was worth €18bn in good and more than €10bn in services last year.

Šefčovič said that the commission now insists on having chapters covering critical minerals in new trade deals, and the Philippines agreement could be particularly lucrative as the EU seeks to reduce its mineral dependence on China.

The Philippines is the world’s largest exporter of nickel ore and boasts substantial reserves of copper, nickel, cobalt, chromite, zinc, and rare earth elements, with a total estimated value of $1 trillion.

Benjamin Fox is our trade and geopolitics editor. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He is based in Nairobi, Kenya, although he often reports from London.