As the global economy braces for the ripple effects of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed push for tariffs, Filipino nationalist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) issued a sharp warning against potential zero-tariff negotiations with the United States.

Renato Reyes, Secretary-General of BAYAN, cautioned that the Philippines’ weak and dependent economy—characterized by a lack of national industrialization and the continued decline of agriculture—would be devastated by any move toward a “zero-for-zero” tariff regime.

“The Philippines’ domestic economy would be most vulnerable,” Reyes stated, pointing to the Marcos administration’s failure to pursue genuine land reform and industrial development. “Our backward, agricultural and semi-feudal economy would be at the losing end of the influx of imported goods.”

Countries like the European Union, Vietnam, Israel, Taiwan, and Zimbabwe have signaled openness to reduce tariffs in mutual agreements with the U.S. However, Reyes said the Philippines should avoid being pressured into similar arrangements, arguing that it would only deepen the country’s dependence on imports while damaging local industries and food producers.

For decades, the Philippines has relied heavily on an import-dependent and export-oriented economy, bolstered by OFW remittances and foreign earnings. Reyes slammed this model as unsustainable, citing the country’s stagnant development under neoliberal trade policies like those pushed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

“Free trade is a myth,” Reyes said. “Many industrialized countries are returning to economic protectionism. Yet the Marcos regime continues to chase after foreign approval instead of protecting our domestic producers.”

BAYAN also criticized ongoing efforts to amend the Philippine Constitution to allow for more foreign ownership, calling such moves “colonial-minded” and a betrayal of national sovereignty.

“We’ve had 30 years of promises under liberalization, but we are still far from industrialization,” added Reyes.

BAYAN called for a decisive shift toward national industrialization, agrarian reform, and economic self-sufficiency—rejecting what it views as blind subservience to foreign powers.

“Marcos should not sell out the Philippines just to please Trump and get U.S. support...We must chart our own economic path—rooted in the needs and interests of the Filipino people,” Reyes concluded.