Europe-PH News

THE Philippines-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is the “most comprehensive” trade agreement the Philippines has pursued to date, as it lays out modern trade priorities such as government procurement, energy and raw materials, among others, according to the international trade relations arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

In a statement on Monday, the DTI-Bureau of International Trade Relations (BITR) said new areas are being negotiated under this FTA which include Government Procurement, Digital Trade, Energy and Raw Materials, and Trade and Sustainable Development.

According to DTI-BITR, both sides affirmed their commitment to crafting a comprehensive agreement that “not only reflects modern trade priorities but also delivers tangible benefits for businesses, consumers, and stakeholders in both the Philippines and the EU.”

The trade office said this after the third round of talks for a free trade deal between the Philippines and the EU concluded in Brussels, Belgium on June 20,2025.

The negotiations were spearheaded by DTI Undersecretary Allan B. Gepty and Director Dora Correia from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Trade and Economic Security.

For five days, negotiators from both sides engaged in discussions across 19 key areas, DTI said.

These included Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Services and Investment, Capital Movements, Payments, Transfers and Temporary Safeguard Measures, Competition Policy, Customs and Trade Facilitation, Digital Trade, Energy and Raw Materials, Government Procurement, Intellectual Property (including Geographical Indications), Mutual Administrative Assistance, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, State-Owned Enterprises, Sustainable Food Systems, Technical Barriers to Trade, Trade and Sustainable Development, Trade Remedies, and Legal and Institutional.

Gepty said the next round of talks, to take place in the Philippines in October 2025, will begin with market access negotiations.

“The meaningful progress achieved in the negotiations thus far is a testament to the constructive spirit and commitment of both negotiating teams to finding mutually agreeable provisions. We will continue with this approach and look forward to commencing market access negotiations by the next round,” the country’s chief negotiator for the PH-EU FTA said.

Gepty said the negotiators are committed to conclude this FTA “expeditiously, particularly in light of the evolving global trade landscape.”

In 2024, total trade between the Philippines and the EU reached US$15.5 billion.

The EU stood as the Philippines’s fifth-largest trading partner, representing 7.7 percent of the Philippines’s total trade.

Philippine exports to the EU amounted to $8.1 billion, while imports from the EU were $7.5 billion.

Moreover, the country’s utilization of the EU’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus reached a record rate of 80.3 percent in 2024.

The DTI-BITR underscored that the PH-EU FTA is an “important element” of the Philippine trade agenda and is aligned with the Philippine Development Plan’s (2023-2028) directive to “advance purposive, assertive, and forward-looking free trade agreement strategies.”

The DTI unit concluded: “As one of the country’s top trading partners, the FTA with the EU is expected to establish a more predictable and stable trading environment, further enhancing the benefits under the EU GSP+ scheme.”