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Indonesia asks US to cancel countervailing duty on biodiesel
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Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita (JP/Stefani Ribka)
I
ndonesia has called on the United States to cancel its final decision on the enforcement of a countervailing duty on Indonesian biodiesel products, by imposing tariffs of between 34.45 to 64.73 percent.
“The Indonesian government calls on the US government to reconsider its decision and respect good relations between the two countries,” Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said in a statement on Sunday.
He said Indonesia would consider filing a complaint to the US courts and the WTO’s dispute settlement body over the anti dumping measure taken by the United States Department of Commerce (USDOC) on Nov. 9.
The USDOC also imposed similar measures against Argentina by imposing higher tariffs of between 71.45 to 72.28 percent.
Enggartiasto accused his counterparts in the US of overprotective and arbitrary moves.
Read also: Indonesia to challenge US anti-dumping duty on biodiesel
The United States International Trade Commission is currently investigating the alleged dumping practices. It has been that if the commission finds any US losses because of biodiesel imports, the tariffs would be imposed, but if not, they will be withdrawn.
The commission will announce its decision on Dec. 21. “If the methodology and calculation used by the US is not in line with the WTO-Subsidy and Countervailing Measures Agreement, we will consider evaluating Indonesian imports from the US,” he added.
In 2016, Indonesian biodiesel exports to the US had reached US$255.56 million, or 89.19 percent of total Indonesian biodiesel exports. But in 2017, exports were halted because of the anti dumping measure. (bbn)
