The agriculture sector will be affected if the Philippine government pursues lowering the 19 percent tariff to be imposed on the Philippine exports to the United States, Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said on Tuesday.

Roque explained that the Philippine agreed to face 19 percent tariff under the new US trade agreement to protect the Filipino farmers.

"We protected the farmers, we protected the industries of the Philippines. So they wanted us to actually, they could lower down the tariff, but it would hurt the agriculture industry, which we felt was not commensurate to what they were going to give," Roque told reporters in an interview following the Post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) discussion in San Juan City on Tuesday.

"We need to protect our own (industry) so we can't really say much because we signed the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), but for us, that's already actually a win," she added.

Under the new trade agreement with the United States, the Philippines also agreed to impose zero tariffs in four American made goods such as automobiles, medicines, soy (used for livestock feed), and wheat.

When asked if Japanese car manufacturers in the Philippines will be affected by the imposition of zero tariff on imported American automobiles, Roque noted that people purchase cars based on their "preference".

She also stressed that zero tariff on medicines and medical equipment from US will bring down its local market prices.

"If pharmaceutical products from the US is zero tariff , that means, the price of the medicine will be very low, which is good for us. And then another thing is also the medical equipment which we really need badly here in the Philippines so I think its really a win for us," she added. Robina Asido/DMS