ASEAN-US initiative : the Philippine perspective

Abstract

This paper aims to provide country inputs to the Joint Study on ASEAN-US Economic Relations whose main objective is to "identify policy reforms and actions producing mutual benefits for ASEAN and the U.S." in the area of trade in goods, trade in services and investment. Along the lines of the objective of the study, the paper is divided into three main parts. First, a discussion on trends and policies on trade in goods, trade in service and foreign investment is presented in Section 2. Section 3 outlined the medium term prospects for Philippine economy in general, and other factors Such as U.S. protectionism and the possible outcome of the Uruguay Round which may affect the ASEAN-US economic relations. This Section also looks at other salient issues such as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) , intellectual property rights, and issues in agriculture. Finally, the last section analyses the implications of findings in the previous sections on ASEAN-US economic relations from the perspective of the Philippines and some possible recommendations.