THE Philippines needs a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union as the country is expected to soon no longer qualify for the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) program, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said on Tuesday.

The resumption of negotiations for the Philippine-European Union Free Trade Agreement (PH-EU FTA) is timely, he added, as the country will no longer be a lower-middle-income country and thus lose GSP+ eligibility.

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