Manila, Feb. 25 -- Finance Secretary Ralph Recto is pushing for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, noting that he is open to lowering the tariff of vehicles from the US if ever the deal pushes through.

"We know that President [Donald] Trump is interested to protect US auto makers and wants to export the same," Recto said in a text message on Tuesday.

"For [the] Philippine side, we may want lower tariffs of our exports to the US and we be part of US supply chain, if ever," he added.

Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that the US was the top destination of Philippine exports last year.

Exports to the US during the period amounted to USD12.12 billion, or about 16.6 percent of the country's total...