The Philippines has warned that it may raise import duties on EU products to 24% if officials fail to implement Manila’s recent request for a zero tariff on canned tuna.
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The call for zero duty on its canned tuna exports to the EU came after trade undersecretary Thomas Aquino revealed that the Philippines pays 24% tariff on its total gross volume exports to Europe. By contrast, other countries in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific enjoy zero tariffs on the canned tuna they export to the EU, and Aquino maintained that the Philippine produce was on a par with, or even better than, that produced in those countries.
EU members meanwhile only pay 6% duty on the canned products they export to the Philippines.
Aquino did say however that any move on the part of the Philippines to raise import duties would be done carefully, and that the country would compare its volume of EU exports with the volume of imports from the Union.
