Trump`s Executive Order Aimed at Opening Trade Barriers : Embassy

Deputy Chief of US Mission to Indonesia Brian McFeeters.

Jakarta, 09 Rajab 1438/06 April 2017 MINA) – US President Donald Trumps latest executive order (EO) regarding the investigation into the trade imbalance between the US and 16 countries, including Indonesia, is actually aimed at opening trade barriers.

The US Embassy to Indonesia deputy chief of mission Brian McFeeters was quoted by Antara as saying that such an order was part of the US economic policies carried out to maximize trade opportunities and lower trade barriers in both directions.

“Hence, the EO basically looks into the barriers that prevent US products from entering certain markets and the ways to address it. That is something that we need to look into all the time,” he stated, while visiting the US booth at the Food and Hotel Indonesia exhibition held in JIExpo Kemayoran, on Wednesday.

He also ensured that Trumps order should not have any negative impact on the trade relations between the two countries and should not hurt Indonesia once the investigation is done.

McFeeters explained that the US trade deficit with Indonesia is not necessarily caused by regulatory reasons but can happen naturally.

“There are many reasons for trade deficit. It is not about regulation but just that we must look into. It (deficit) can happen naturally, because one country has needs that can be supplied by the other country,” he noted.

Earlier on Monday, the US Department of Homeland Security had issued a list of 16 countries that were considered to have trade imbalance with US.

Among the countries that contributed to the trade deficit were China, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Ireland, Vietnam, Italy, South Korea, Malaysia, India, Thailand, France, Switzerland, Taiwan, Canada, and Indonesia.

Indonesia was in the 15th position on the list, with US$13 billion in trade surplus with the US, followed by Canada with US$ 11 million trade surplus.

As a response to that order, Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita had been conducting an inventory of Indonesian export commodities which allegedly resulted in the deficit of US trade.

“We will monitor it and wait for the next moves. Meanwhile, we are evaluating commodities that were exported to the US, whether they would potentially be assessed,” Lukita stated.

Bilateral trade between US and Indonesia had run normally

Meanwhile, Vice President Jusuf Kalla has called on the US government to exercise introspection, following its accusation of “trade cheater” against Indonesia which has recorded trade surplus with the US.

“Of the 16 countries, we are in the 15th position, and actually it is fair. In addition to oil and gas, our export to the US includes garment, footwear, and machinery, while import includes aircraft, machinery, electronic wares, and others,” he added.

Therefore, Kalla noted that the bilateral trade between US and Indonesia had run normally as they had recorded trade deficit over other partner countries as well.

“They cannot say that Indonesia is cheating. We have never forced them to buy Indonesian products. They buy them because our products are good and cheaper,” Kalla remarked. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)