US Resiprocal Tariff Postponed, Indonesia Must Stay Alert

JAKARTA - Paramadina University economist Wijayanto Samirin revealed that regarding the postponement of the application of the reciprocal rate applied by the President of the United States, Donald Trump for 90 days because the system owned by the US is not ready to apply varying rates to 180 countries in the world.

Wijayanto emphasized that Indonesia should not be careless, because the tariff increase will still be carried out after the US system is ready.

"We must not be careless, the tariff increase will still be carried out, waiting for the readiness of their system," he said in his statement, Thursday, April 10.

He said that this situation indicated that President Trump was not a person his commitment could hold, and Trump had no concrete plans because his decisions tended to be taken suddenly and impulsively.

In addition, Wijayanto added that global uncertainty will continue, even after Trump left the White House.

"The world's uncertainty will continue to occur, even after Trump's time at the White House ends. It will take a long time for his successor to return many of the principles and values that Trump has damaged," he said.

According to Wijayanto, Indonesia must be prepared to deal with this situation with two approaches, namely a tactical approach is carried out through negotiations with the US regarding the Reciprocal Tariff scheme.

Meanwhile, strategic and fundamental approaches need to be focused on improving the business climate and increasing national economic competitiveness.

"Full Blown Deregulation, with a neck to neck and eye to eye approach with Vietnam must be put forward. We follow what Vietnam is doing, thankfully it can exceed, at least close," he said.

Wijayanto also highlighted two important things related to the basis for calculating US tariff policies, namely the basis for calculating tariffs and non-trade barriers (non-trade barriers) used in determining Reciprocal Tariffs is not objective and tends to be manipulative.

According to him, the basis for calculating the US trade deficit only includes goods, without including services. If services are also calculated, then the US trade deficit will look much smaller.

He considered that although in the short term the US seemed to benefit, in the medium and long term, this policy would actually harm themselves.

"What Trump is doing will accelerate the end of US hegemony on the world stage," he stressed.

Wijayanto added that China's firm stance in dealing with Trump's pressure will be appreciated by various countries such as those in the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and others are believed to be more confident in following China's steps.

"The attitude of the US who withdrew from leadership positions in various arenas left empty space. China is the most prepared to take over the position," he said.