Indonesia will soon impose up to a 200-percent import tariff on Chinese goods to mitigate the effects of the ongoing trade war between China and the United States.
Indonesia's Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan said on Friday that the policy will take effect once the related regulation is issued.
He explained that the trade war is causing an oversupply in China as their products face rejection by Western countries, forcing them to redirect exports to other markets like Indonesia.
Tariffs for Chinese-made products would range from 100 to 200 percent, Hasan noted.
“The United States can impose a 200-percent tariff on imported ceramics or clothes; we can do it as well to ensure our MSMEs and industries will survive and thrive,” he remarked.
A new ministerial regulation is being drafted to address concerns raised by stakeholders about the inadequacies of earlier regulations regarding protecting local industries from the influx of Chinese-made products.
Trade Minister Regulation No. 37 of 2023, the first of such regulations, established import control through a post-border mechanism and checks for imported products.
The regulation also limited carry-on tax-free personal products for returning Indonesian migrant workers to US$500 for only 56 products.
"Regulation No. 37 was capable of restricting and controlling imports," Hasan emphasized. However, the new arrangement resulted in a backlog in customs inspections due to additional checks on migrant workers' luggage.
"Our migrant workers were furious, and our customs agency was underprepared to manage the increased volume of products," he stated.
To address this issue, the government amended the regulation through Trade Minister's Regulation No. 7 of 2024, which abolished the tax-free restriction on 56 products.
However, the bottleneck persisted, with cargo containers piling up at various ports. This led to Trade Minister's Regulation No. 8 of 2024.
"But again, our industries, particularly textiles, complained and requested the return of Regulation No. 37," Hasan said.
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