{"id":465669,"date":"2026-09-22T12:48:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T10:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/09\/22\/lue-punta-allindopacifico-intesa-con-le-filippine-per-laccordo-di-libero-scambio\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T13:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T11:42:14","slug":"eu-sets-its-sights-on-the-indo-pacific-reaches-free-trade-deal-with-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/09\/22\/eu-sets-its-sights-on-the-indo-pacific-reaches-free-trade-deal-with-the-philippines\/","title":{"rendered":"EU sets its sights on the Indo-Pacific, reaches free trade deal with the Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 More job opportunities, more investment and more trade. These are the objectives of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Philippines, according to a “substantial” agreement <\/strong>reached today (22 September), after a video call<\/a>, by the Commissioner for Trade, Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d, and the Philippine Secretary of Trade and Industry, Maria Cristina Aldeguer-Roque<\/strong>. The way forward has been mapped out; negotiators will now have to finalise the work to reach a formal conclusion to the deal in the coming months.  An agreement that, according to Commissioner \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d<\/a>, will deepen “economic ties between the EU and one of the most dynamic economies in Southeast Asia” while at the same time strengthening Europe\u2019s presence in the region. <\/p>\n

Relations with Manila have taken several twists and turns over the past ten years. The EU and the Philippines began negotiations in 2015 but suspended them after two rounds. Talks resumed in March 2024 to establish a modern agreement that also focuses on sustainability<\/strong>. In 2025, the EU was the Philippines\u2019 fourth-largest trading partner, accounting for 8.3 per cent of the country\u2019s total trade in goods. In 2023, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, visited Manila specifically to revive the negotiations. Yesterday, the telephone call between the head of the Commission and the Philippine President, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.<\/a>, laid the groundwork for today\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

 The new agreement provides for the liberalisation of over 94 per cent of tariff lines, which cover more than 97 per cent of the goods traded between the two countries<\/strong>, \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d said. For Europe, this means new opportunities for businesses, but also for farmers: \u201cWe already have an agricultural surplus with the Philippines,\u201d he stressed, with exports worth over 2 billion euros against imports of 1.4 billion euros.<\/p>\n

Investment and supply chain resilience are also key. The deal delivers \u201cstronger, more diversified supply chains, at a moment when resilience has become a strategic priority<\/strong>,\u201d said the Commissioner, citing semiconductors as one example. The deal also aims to create new opportunities in the renewable energy sector, in which Manila seeks to expand its capacity.<\/p>\n

 The growth potential lies \u201cwell beyond current levels\u201d, which are already substantial: in 2025, bilateral trade in goods totalled 17.6 billion euros<\/strong>, while in 2024, trade in services reached 10.3 billion euros. The stock of EU foreign direct investment in the Philippines stood at 15.4 billion euros, compared with 2.4 billion euros of Philippine investment in the EU. \u201cI am convinced that our bilateral trade with the Philippines has room to grow well beyond current levels,\u201d<\/strong> \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d said. But beyond the figures, there is a strategic dimension because \u201cthis agreement sends a clear signal that the EU is reinforcing its engagement with the Indo-Pacific.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

 And Brussels\u2019 ambitions do not stop at Manila. \u201cSoutheast Asia is the region to be in<\/strong>,\u201d said the Commissioner, highlighting progress with Indonesia and now with the Philippines, as well as ongoing negotiations with Thailand and Malaysia. The broader aim is to \u201cgradually strengthen the network of European trade relations in the region\u201d. \u201cThe focus now shifts to finalising the agreement<\/strong>,\u201d \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d concluded. Negotiators will need to formalise the deal in the coming months so that businesses and citizens on both sides can begin to benefit from it as soon as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to Trade Commissioner \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d, \u201cSoutheast Asia is the region to be in.\u201d The European Commission is now also aiming to finalise agreements with Thailand and Malaysia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7896,"featured_media":465642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[31262,26279,35806,35807,25929,32134,35808,35809,35810,25987,35811,33902,25886,28707],"class_list":["post-465669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-trade-en","tag-ferdinand-r-marcos-jr","tag-filippine","tag-free-exchange-en","tag-indonesia-en","tag-malaysia","tag-manila","tag-maria-cristina-aldeguer-roque","tag-maros-sefcovicat","tag-scambio","tag-sud-est-asiatico","tag-sustainability-en","tag-thailandia-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7896"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465670,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465669\/revisions\/465670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}