REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Deputy US Embassy to Indonesia Brian McFeeters said the executive orders of US President Donald Trump to investigate the causes of imbalance in trade deficit with dozens of countries, including Indonesia, aimed at opening the barriers of trading US products.
According to McFeeters, it was a part of US economical policy in optimizing the trading potencies and in eliminating barriers of US products exporting to other countries. "The orders actually focus on the barriers of the entrance of US products to some markets and how to find solutions on it,” he said in Jakarta on Wednesday (April 5).
Brian convinced that Trump’s policy would not bring negative impacts to the bilateral trading. There would not be any sanctions to Indonesia after the investigation process was finished.
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He explained that the US trade deficit to Indonesia reached 13 billion US dollar on 2016. It was natural as an impact of firm regulation in Indonesian importing. “There are many causes of trade deficit. Regulation is one we had studied. But basically it might happened naturally because a country needs many stuffs supplied by other countries,” said him.
On Monday (April 3), US Interior Ministry issued the list of 16 countries which had imbalance trade relationship to America. The biggest US deficit was to China for 347 billion US dollar, followed by Japan, Germany, Mexico, Ireland, Vietnam, Italy, South Korea, Malaysia, India, Thailand, France, Swiss, Taiwan, Indonesia and Canada.
Responding to it, Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita conducted an export inventory to some products which allegedly caused US trade deficit. However, Indonesia still had surplus trade. “It is a statement. We monitor the next step. We are inventorying export commodity to US. What is potential (to cause US trade deficit). We make a list," said him in his office in Jakarta on Tuesday (April 4).
Enggartiasto also asked the representatives of Trade Ministry in Washington DC to monitor later statement of Trump.
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