Indonesia and the United States are discussing facilitating the export of Indonesian nickel products to the United States through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
JAKARTA (Antara) – Indonesia should take advantage of the opportunities arising from the ongoing trade war between the United States (US) and China, said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Erlanga Hartardo.
„We are in a situation where we can take advantage because the US has started banning imports of Chinese goods,” he observed at the „2023 National Working Meeting on Government Internal Oversight” here on Wednesday.
He said Indonesia has become a member of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), the first regional cooperation to focus on supply chain issues.
Other IPEF members include Brunei, Fiji, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the Philippines and the United States.
IPEF member countries are committed to realizing economic cooperation involving the private sector and implementing technical assistance and capacity-building programmes.
The collaboration is expected to boost investment in key sectors, key commodities, physical and digital infrastructure, transport and employment projects.
„Indonesia and the United States are discussing facilitating the export of Indonesian nickel products to the United States through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework,” the unification minister said.
IPEF represents more than 40 percent of the world economy and 28 percent of global trade in goods and services. It aims to foster inclusive economic cooperation among countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
The trade war between the United States and China began in 2018 when the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, decided to impose tariffs on Chinese goods that were deemed to hurt domestic sales.
In response to US policy, China also imposed import duties on US goods.
The two countries continued to gradually impose tariffs on each other, resulting in an escalating trade war.
Recently, the US has restricted trade in semiconductors and artificial intelligence technology to China, citing national security.
In response, China filed a case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the US policy.
In addition, the Chinese government allocated US$140 billion (about Rp2,092 trillion) to boost domestic chip production.
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