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US tariffs a serious threat to RI GDP growth, Sri Mulyani warns
The government and economists agree that an increasingly protectionist US trade policy is weighing on Indonesia’s economic growth, but the full extent of the damage will depend on the final tariffs Washington imposes on goods from the archipelago and its trade partners.
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Shipping containers sit on a container ship at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, the United States, on Feb. 9, 2022. (GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP/Mario Tama)
T
he government and economists agree that an increasingly protectionist United States trade policy is weighing on Indonesia’s economic growth, but the full extent of the damage will depend on the final tariffs Washington imposes on goods from the archipelago and its trade partners.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Thursday that the planned US tariffs could push Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth down “by between 0.3 and 0.5 [percentage points],” Reuters reported.
The minister noted that that estimate was based on calculations made prior to US President Donald Trump deciding to suspend steep tariffs imposed on goods from many countries.
In a sudden turnabout late on Wednesday, Trump announced that the US would temporarily suspend so-called “reciprocal” tariffs enforced just hours earlier, including a rate of 32 percent on products imported from Indonesia.
“You have to be flexible,” Trump said to reporters.
A 10 percent blanket tariff imposed on almost all US imports last weekend, however, remains in effect.
The pause would last for 90 days, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asserted that the pullback had been the plan all along to bring countries to the negotiating table.
