Palace backs Duterte: US-China trade war triggered PH inflation rise

Malacañang on Monday defended President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim that tariffs slapped by United States President Donald Trump on imports from China affected the Philippines and contributed to the recent record-high inflation in the country.

“Ang katotohanan po, eh talagang gumulo iyong ating ekonomiya noong nagkaroon ng trade war ang America at saka ang Tsina, hindi natin ito mapagkakaila. Noong dati smooth na smooth tayo ‘no, going as planned tayo, tapos biglang nadiskaril nga, dahil din po sa nagaganap na trade war,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview over DZRH.

(The truth is, the economy was messed up by the trade war between America and China, and we can’t deny this. Before, it was very smooth and going as planned, and suddenly it was derail because of the trade war.)

READ: Duterte blames Trump-imposed tariffs for PH inflation

“Alam mo naman kasi, ang sabi nila, kapag naglaban ang mga higante, siyempre apektado iyong mga maliliit na bansa kagaya ng Pilipinas at iyan po ang ibig sabihin ng ating Presidente,” he added.

(You know, they say that when giants wage war, the small countries like the Philippines get affected and that’s what the President meant to say.)

Early this month, data released by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed inflation clocked at 6.4 percent in August, the fastest in over nine years since inflation came in at 6.6 percent in March 2009.

READ: Inflation hits new 9-year high of 6.4% in August

Economic managers attributed the record-high inflation in August to higher electricity, gas, fuels, fish, rice, vegetables and meat prices.

The President, however, believes the US has something to do with the rise prices of commodities.

“Inflation is dahil ‘yan kay (because of) Trump. When Trump raised ‘yung mga (his) tariff niya, pati (and) banned other items, nagkaloko-loko (it got messy),” Duterte said during a meeting with the Filipino community in Jordan.

Duterte did not explain how the US trade policy affected the prices in the Philippine market.  

Also dubbed as the Trump Trade War, the ongoing trade war between China and the United States, two of the Philippines’ major trading partner, stemmed from the US President’s campaign promise to fix China’s alleged longtime abuse of the broken international system and unfair practices. /je