MANILA — The Philippines remains in constant communication with the United States government to negotiate the 17 percent reciprocal tariff imposed by the Trump administration on Philippine goods, Malacanang said Thursday.

“Actually, according to the Department of Trade and Industry and Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, they are in constant communication with the US Trade representative but they cannot divulge or give any details about this because we are covered by the confidentiality agreement,” Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said.

The assurance comes amid reports that the United States “wants countries to provide their best offer on trade negotiations” as the 90-day pause on Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs comes to an end.

“Yeah. Mayroon pong deadline pero again hindi ko po masasabi iyong ibang detalye because of the confidentiality agreement. Pero tuluy-tuloy po iyong pakikipag-ugnayan po nila sa US representative,” Castro said.

According to the Reuters report, the US wants countries to “list their best proposals in a number of key areas, including tariff and quota offers for purchase of US industrial and agricultural products and plans to remedy any non-tariff barriers.”

Presidential Assistant on Investment and Economic Affairs Secretary Frederick Go earlier expressed optimism over the country’s trade ties with the United States following their “very productive” meeting with United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer in Washington DC last May 2.

A Technical Working Group of the Foreign Trade Office of the Department of Trade and Industry under Undersecretary Allan Gepty will be working with the USTR office to work out the details of the high-level meeting, Go said.