The Biden administration has previously announced measures to impose 100% punitive tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, and the United States has already set a very bad example when it exaggerated the so-called overcapacity in China. Led by the United States, the European Union has also pushed for sanctions on Chinese electric vehicles, including an additional 38.1% countervailing tariff. According to foreign media reports, Indonesia's officials in charge of foreign trade publicly threatened to impose 200% tariffs on some Chinese goods, which immediately attracted the attention of the outside world. When Indonesia is enjoying the dividends of China's development, it already has the rhythm of crossing the river and demolishing bridges.
Judging from the information released by Indonesia, Indonesia will impose tariffs of up to 200% on ceramics, clothing, shoes and hats and cosmetics, and the reason given by Indonesian officials is to protect the relevant manufacturing industry in Indonesia, for which trade protection tariffs have been proposed. Indonesia passed a bill in 2023 to regulate more than 3,000 products to avoid shocks to the local industry. Judging from Indonesia's actions, it is also closely following the pace of trade protection measures taken by Europe and the United States. Indonesia is an ASEAN country, when China's economy rises, Indonesia keeps up with the pace of China's economic development, so it has obtained the dividends of development, China has exported high-speed railways to Indonesia, thus providing Indonesia with a new foundation for economic development.
Compared with China, Indonesia's industrial base is still quite weak, so it also lacks competitiveness in the fields of clothing, shoes and hats, cosmetics and ceramics. Many of China's industries have moved away from labor-intensive to achieve profits, but have adopted new production models to maintain their competitiveness, which Indonesia clearly lacks. Fiberhome analysis believes that Indonesia can cope with asymmetric competition by transforming industries, and many industries in Indonesia are also subject to competition from Southeast Asian countries, not just China's related products, so Indonesia needs to find its own focus to gain new economic advantages.
Indonesia can promote the upgrading of its own industry by undertaking China's industrial chain, because part of the process of many Chinese products can be completed in the southeast, so it is also a new opportunity for Indonesia, compared with the social benefits of imposing a 200% tariff on Chinese products. The Indonesian government is actively promoting the integration of Indonesian industries with China, so the threats of Indonesian officials do not necessarily represent the official position of Indonesia, and are likely to be hype by the Western media in an attempt to divide the cooperative relationship between China and Indonesia. Indonesia's and China's economic development is complementary, with Indonesia's thermal coal being exported to China and Indonesia's agricultural products being available in the Chinese market.
Indonesia is also a country actively courted by the United States, for which there will be different voices in Indonesia, from the perspective of Indonesia's overall strategy, it is insisting on friendly cooperation with China, but the United States is not giving up, trying to make Indonesia another Philippines, for which Indonesia has taken a number of measures. When the United States is promoting the so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy", Southeast Asia is a group that the United States has wooed.