The country’s biggest tuna canneries are worried about losing their biggest market because of international politics after majority of lawmakers in the European Union (EU) voted to use trade to express their dissent over the worsening state of human rights under the Duterte administration. The Tuna Canners Association of General Santos City said its backup plans were not enough to fill the absence that the EU would leave, if the bloc decides to stop a conditional trade perk that has allowed zero tariff entry for more than 6,000 product lines—including tuna—since late 2014. The trade concession is called the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus or simply the EU GSP+. The Philippines entered this arrangement knowing well the conditions attached to it. After all, the GSP+ is more than just a trade tool.

Canivel, R. C. (2020, September 23). Tuna exports to EU in peril. Philippine Daily Inquirer, pp. A10, A9.