Indonesia looks to secure limited trade deal with US after Washington extends its GSP access
- Deputy foreign affairs minister Mahendra Siregar says the potential agreement could double trade value between the countries to US$60 billion in five years
- The proposal comes after Washington confirmed Jakarta was still eligible for Generalised System of Preferences status, a preferential tariff agreement
Workers operate sewing machines at a factory in Central Java that makes apparel – one of the sectors Indonesia plans to prioritise under the potential new trade deal with the US. Photo: Bloomberg
Indonesia is looking to propose a limited trade deal with the
United States, after Washington extended Jakarta’s access to a preferential tariff agreement following US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s October 29 visit to the Southeast Asian nation.
The new agreement could double trade value between the countries to US$60 billion in five years’ time, deputy foreign affairs minister Mahendra Siregar told
This Week in Asia.
“We hope to further our discussion with the US about how to utilise Indonesia’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) status, and also to talk about a trade agreement that is more permanent and broader,” he said.
Under the GSP trade preference programme, 3,500 products from 119 designated beneficiary countries and territories are allowed duty-free and quota-free entry into the US. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on October 30 confirmed that it had closed its review of Indonesia’s GSP eligibility “with no loss of benefits”.
Siregar added that while Washington had not yet agreed to a discussion over the trade deal, Jakarta had “received positive signs from the US”. He emphasised that instead of Indonesia proposing talks over a “much more time-consuming and complex free trade agreement” with the world’s largest economy, “we are seeking to have a discussion about a limited trade deal, which is more simple and focused”.
Muhammad Lutfi, Indonesia’s ambassador to the US, said during a recent webinar that the Southeast Asian nation would prioritise apparel, electronics, rubber, footwear, and furniture in the trade deal. He said machines, plastics, automotive spare parts, optical and medical tools, and organic chemicals would also be “strategic products”,
The Jakarta Post reported.
Indonesia, which was granted GSP status in 1980, last year exported US$2.61 billion of goods to the US under the scheme – or around 13 per cent of its US$20.1 billion total exports to America last year, according to the United States International Trade Commission. The value of its GSP exports from January to August was US$1.87 billion, an increase of more than 10 per cent from the corresponding period last year.
Indonesia's President Joko Widodo (left) and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during their meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, on October 29. Photo: EPA-EFE
Indonesia’s GSP status extension was partly because of temporary measures that Jakarta “intends to implement to expedite increases in US imports, and the creation of the new US-Indonesia Joint Working Group on Horticultural Product Trade”, US Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer said in a letter to Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investment.
However, Thailand’s GSP status has been suspended, effective December 30, “based on its lack of sufficient progress providing the US with equitable and reasonable market access for pork products”, the USTR said. Thailand’s exports to the US under the GSP were worth over US$800 million last year.
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Said Indonesia’s deputy foreign affairs minister Siregar: “Indonesia is the only country in Southeast and South Asia whose GSP status was put under review but was left unscathed. The GSP extension sends a message that Indonesia has improved its business and investment climate through regulatory reforms, because if we had not, the US would not extend our GSP status.”
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Yose Rizal Damuri, head of the economics department at Indonesia’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said while the value of exports to the US under the GSP facility was “not that significant”, the extension was a significant boost to Jakarta’s bid to draw foreign investment.
“If the GSP status for Indonesia was suspended, it would hamper Indonesia’s reputation in the eye of the international community. A couple of years ago, the US suspended GSP for Turkey and India, and they were punished by the financial market. Turkey’s lira then crashed,” Damuri said.
“The GSP extension will also attract foreign investment to Indonesia. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and US-China trade war, many international businesses may consider diversifying their supply chains, because they think they are too dependent on one particular production location, such as China, and this is risky for them. Indonesia really wants to take advantage of this diversification drive.”
Damuri said the US also did not want to worsen its relations with Indonesia, as many American companies had invested in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
“The majority of these companies invest in strategic sectors such as mining, and oil and gas. So the US has no ground to punish Indonesia, who has been a good boy and improved its regulations to cater to US demands in 2018 when they threatened to revoke the GSP facility for Indonesia,” he said.
Analysts also see the GSP status extension as a potential sweetener for Indonesia to move closer to the US, as Jakarta has remained relatively neutral amid Washington’s tussle for geopolitical influence with Beijing.
On the regional level there is a concern that if Trump wins a second term, the US’ rivalry with China will be sharper, and it doesn’t really benefit the region
“In recent years it does seem that the US was not giving much attention to Southeast Asia, but [Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo just visited Indonesia, and Indonesia’s defence minister Prabowo Subianto recently visited the US, so in terms of the bilateral relationship we are actually becoming closer to the US,” said Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Asean expert and research professor at the Research Center for Politics-Indonesian Institute of Sciences.
“Indonesia is also quite relieved that the US is continuing to grant the GSP facility to Indonesia, so Jakarta sees its relationship with the US as more or less the same under Trump [compared with previous administrations].
“But on the regional level there is a concern that if Trump wins a second term, the US’ rivalry with China will be sharper, and it doesn’t really benefit the region. And we see that this causes a high level uncertainty on the regional and global level that could trigger conflicts.”
Aside from Indonesia,
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)
member countries that have been granted GSP status by the US are Myanmar, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Thailand, while the GSP eligibility of Myanmar, Cambodia, and the Philippines expires on December 31.
In 2013, Laos requested to be designated as a GSP beneficiary, but the USTR last month dashed its hopes “following lack of recent engagement by the government of Laos on the worker rights eligibility criterion”.
Indonesia’s extension did not involve special lobbying efforts, Siregar said: “The process is really transparent, there is no chance for lobbying. But we have been negotiating through formal meetings and talks, of course, in which we discussed our trade issues.”
He is confident that the GSP extension will optimise Indonesian exports and boost domestic investments, particularly in the sectors that can export zero-tariff goods to the US.
While uncertainty over the US election could affect global markets and trade, Siregar believes ties between Washington and Jakarta can withstand the political turbulence.
“Indonesia has been having a relationship with the US for decades, and we respect each other,” he said. “Just because the administration in a country changes, it doesn’t mean that their positions [on trade] will also change, each country will respect and honour the existing [trade] agreements.”
The US is Indonesia’s second largest trade partner, behind China. The value of non-oil and gas exports to the US was US$17.68 billion last year, compared with US$25.85 billion to China, according to data from Indonesia’s statistics agency.Siregar said both countries were “equally important” to Indonesia. “Amid the pandemic and the
US-China trade war, Indonesia has managed to increase the volume of its exports to China and to the US, so we have interests in both countries. We hope that China and the US also have interests in Indonesia so we can keep this momentum.”
Deputy foreign affairs minister Mahendra Siregar says the potential agreement could double trade value between the countries to US$60 billion in five years.
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