In a public hearing conducted by the Senate Committe on Economic Affairs yesterday, Senator Win Gatchalian expressed his concern over the potential negative impact of the recently imposed 19 percent tariff on Philippine exports to the United States, saying that the tariff could severely affect the country’s semiconductor industry.
Senator Gatchalian said the semiconductor industry is one of the country’s top export products and a key driver of the economy.
“About 70 percent of our total exports come from the semiconductor industry. It’s earning about USD30 billion for your country and about 46 percent of the goods imported from the Philippines by the U.S. are semiconductors. That’s how big the impact will be if a tax is imposed on our semiconductor industry,” he explained.
Gatchalian also stressed the semiconductor industry gives employment, both direct and indirect, to about three million people with a growth of about 150,000 jobs annually.
“The semiconductor can be cultivated and can be a major economic driver of our country but if the tariffs will severely impact the semiconductor industry, it might slow down and eventually face disappearance. Because of the Chips Act of the U.S., a lot of semiconductor companies in the whole world are being incentivized to come back to the U.S., set shop and produce both low end and high quality chips,” the senator noted.
He said he wanted to know how the industry players can extend assistance to the semiconductor industry so it will continue to be a main economic driver of the country.
