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In the past few years, there have been constant trade problems between the United States and China, and the United States has often imposed various tariffs on China in the name of "overcapacity" and "trade protection" to hit China's foreign trade activities.
Unexpectedly, the Indonesian government, which has always maintained close cooperation with China in the economic field, revealed at the end of June that it was ready to impose an astonishingly high proportion of tariffs of up to 200% on China.
Many people suspect that this tax is being imposed against China, so, is this really the case? What is the purpose of Indonesia's sudden increase in tariffs on China?
The United States imposed tariffs on China
On May 22 this year, the US government announced that the United States will continue to implement "Section 301" to continue to implement the policy of raising trade tariffs on China.
As early as 2018, U.S. President Trump used this clause four times to impose hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs on China.
After Biden took office, although he once considered cutting tariffs on China, he finally chose to maintain the Trump-era tariff policy on China, and even increased some tariff policies.
According to the Federal Circular issued by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, it can be seen that this year's new tariffs involve electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries for vehicles, solar panels, some steel and aluminum products, and so on.
Some of these products are taxed at 25%, and some are as high as 100%, and this policy will be fully implemented from August 1 this year.
(On May 14, local time, Biden announced new tariffs on China at the White House)
Of course, this policy also includes the specific content of the tariff policy for next year and even the year after that, and the details of the tariffs imposed are very surprising.
Not only the United States, but since July this year, the European Union has also conducted a countervailing investigation against China under the guise of "the Chinese government subsidizes electric vehicle companies, resulting in unfair market competition", and then continues to impose tariffs on Chinese products.
The United States is doing this because it wants to gain voters' support by taking a tough stance on China, or to increase its leverage in trade negotiations between China and the United States.
In addition to following in the footsteps of the United States, the EU is also unable to cope with the advantages of Chinese products, so it wants to take the opportunity to suppress Chinese exports to protect the market competition pressure faced by local EU enterprises.
(U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen (first from left) and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai (second from left) listen to Biden's speech on the 14th)
China has long known their plans, so a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce said on May 14 that "China will take resolute measures to defend its rights and interests."
Because the "301 policy" of the United States has long been found illegal by the WTO, the policy implemented by the United States is not only wrong, but also ineffective.
China hopes that the United States will not deliberately politicize the trade issue and use it as a tool to suppress China, otherwise China will take corresponding countermeasures against the United States.
China's statements have always been so resolute and resolute, not to cause trouble and not afraid of trouble, but I did not expect that it would not be long before Indonesia was more ruthless than the United States, and even imposed tariffs on China more ruthlessly.
The reason why Indonesia has imposed a high proportion of tariffs on China
On June 28 this year, Indonesian government official Zulkifli Hassan suddenly revealed the shocking news that Indonesia had decided to impose tariffs of 100 to 200 percent on China.
These levies cover everything from footwear to ceramics and other everyday products, and the proportion of certain textiles may be as high as 200%, which is simply astonishing and not ruthless.
Of course, the implementation of this policy will not be carried out until the second half of this year, and the details of the implementation will have to be announced by Indonesian Trade Minister Zulkifli Hassan.
As soon as this news was issued, some countries believed that Indonesia was doing this time to specifically target China's exports.
In response, Luhut, the leader of Indonesia's cooperation with China, quickly responded by saying that the tariff policy applies to all low-priced imported goods and does not target any specific country, including China.
(INDONESIA'S HEAD OF COOPERATION WITH CHINA, COORDINATING MINISTER FOR MARITIME AFFAIRS AND INVESTMENT, LUHUT TEMPO)
That being said, then why does Indonesia impose such high tariffs on China? In fact, there are two main reasons for this:
First, protect Indonesia's local industries. Because in the past few years, Indonesian companies have had to close down or lay off employees due to the impact of cheap and large quantities of textiles from outside.
As a result, the Indonesian government wants to protect local businesses by increasing tariffs on foreign products.
In this regard, He Wenping, a researcher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also believes that "Indonesia's move is not aimed at China."
The main reason is that China is Indonesia's largest trading partner, so the number of Chinese products shipped to Indonesia will naturally be relatively large, so it seems that this policy is aimed at China, but it is not.
Second, it imitates U.S. policies and responds to international competition. It is undeniable that the Indonesian government has been more or less affected by the "Chinese overcapacity" threatened by the United States and the tariff policy imposed by the United States on China.
(Workers operate a sewing machine at a factory in Solo, Indonesia)
Indonesia is worried that after the United States imposes high tariffs on China, China's "large quantities of indigestible products" will rush to Indonesia, which will have a huge impact on Indonesia's domestic trade.
However, it is difficult to reverse this situation, so in order to protect national interests, Indonesia will choose to impose ultra-high tariffs on foreign countries.
However, in this regard, He Wenping feels that Indonesia is "too speculative" to think like this.
Dandy, a commentator at a US think tank, also believes that if there is no factual evidence, the effects of these policies of the United States and India may not meet expectations, so such a decision must be carefully considered.
In fact, what he said is indeed right, China is impossible to be slaughtered by others, China dares to impose reciprocal sanctions on the United States, and naturally dares to fight back against Indonesia, this time Indonesia did not target China, so China will not conflict with Indonesia.
(Foreign Trade Chart)
However, in the short term, the trade friction between China and Indonesia may intensify, and the two sides will need to resolve their differences through negotiation and dialogue to avoid the trade dispute escalating.
In the long run, China and Indonesia, as important economies in Southeast Asia, need to deepen cooperation under regional economic integration and the Belt and Road Initiative to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
It is believed that in the long run, China and Indonesia can work together in the economic field to grow and develop together.
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Resources
Indonesian official clarifies "200% import tariff": not against any specific country, let alone China China News Network
Indonesia intends to impose import tariffs of up to 200% on textiles, etc., and the government minister responded: It is not aimed at specific countries such as China Observer.com
The new U.S. tariffs on electric vehicles and other products came into effect on August 1, and the Chinese side responded to Observer.com