JakartaPost-July 18, 2023
The European Union is rallying businesses to take countermeasures against Indonesia’s nickel ore export ban, after Jakarta appealed a World Trade Organization ruling against its protective mineral policy. Indonesia filed a request for review with the WTO’s largely paralyzed Appellate Body in December of last year, a month after the WTO ruling. The country has, in the meantime, maintained its nickel export ban. “Where action is necessary to safeguard the EU’s interests, […] the EU may take appropriate commercial policy measures in response, on the basis of objective criteria. […] The [European] Commission has at this stage identified steel and stainless steel products as possible products for countermeasures,” read the European Commission’s announcement. The EU’s exact countermeasures remain uncertain, and so does Jakarta’s response. The Trade Ministry’s international trade negotiations director general, Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the EU had placed “antidumping and antisubsidy” measures on Indonesian steel products. When asked what steps the government might take in response, he said, “We’ll see later.” The Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Ministry, Coordinating Economic Ministry and Investment Coordinating Board were not available for immediate comment. Meanwhile, the European Union Embassy in Jakarta declined to comment on the matter. The EU has a trade policy called Enforcement Regulation that allows it to “enforce international obligations” in trade disputes, which might manifest in various forms, such as canceling preferential tariffs for a country under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). The GSP gives certain developing countries preferred access to the EU market through reduced or zero customs duties. But the EU cancelling its GSP with Indonesia would be “an extreme case” according to Yose Rizal Damuri, economic department head at the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2023/07/17/ri-eu-gear-up-for-trade-clash.html.
