How Will a Trump Presidency Affect the Philippines?

How Will a Trump Presidency Affect the Philippines?

US President-Elect Donald Trump
US President-Elect Donald Trump

Here are some of the potentially negative effects

You’re probably thinking why is a tech blog in the Philippines writing about Donald Trump? Simply put he’s now the most powerful man on the planet and his new policies can affect a sector that’s born out of technology (and I think a lot of our readers are also from this sector) — the BPO industry.

Let’s get right to it. During a rally at Gettysburg in October, then-candidate but now President-elect Donald Trump outlined what he would do in the first 100 days in office. It’s a long list but there are three items there that caught our attention that can potentially affect the Philippines.

BPO / Manufacturing to Take a Hit?

End The Offshoring Act. Establishes tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate in other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free.

This is a bit hard to interpret. Based on what we’ve read, the US Offshoring Act allows for a lot of tax incentives for US companies to sell back products back into the US even if they set up those outsourced hubs in other countries. Theoretically this should also mean services and not just actual hard FMCG type products.

In theory if this also applies to BPOs, the US companies who are into it might get slapped with more taxes if they continue to do their services offshore. We’re not sure if they financial trade-off though would be that big that they would pull out of the Philippines or other markets altogether.

If any of our readers here are experts on this subject matter, please do post a comment below and we’ll get in touch with you.

Illegal Immigrants

* FOURTH, begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won’t take them back

I think it’s safe to say that there are a number of Filipino illegal immigrants in the United States. While we don’t know how they would actually hunt them down and start sending them back to their respective countries (maybe provide incentives for those who would snitch), it’s now a very likely scenario that can actually happen.

Potentially Less Aid from the U.N. for Typhoon Disaster Relief?

* SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure

By canceling billions in payments to the U.N., we’re assuming that the aid the body gives will get reduced. As a country that’s pummeled by typhoons (any they’re getting stronger and more frequent due to climate change), this might have an impact on us. I’m not sure how big of an impact though.

And there you have it. If you guys have any other ideas how his Presidency will affect the country, please do chime in below. You can read his full “First 100 Days Roadmap” here.

Source

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest News

Latest Reviews

Best Phones in the Philippines

Best Guides

Recent Posts