Trade Policy in Indonesia: Between Ambivalence, Pragmatism and Nationalism

Abstract

Protectionism in Indonesia has been returning since the mid-2000s following a brief period of deregulation and liberalisation after the Asian financial crisis (AFC). This Survey reviews recent developments in Indonesia’s trade policy. It argues that the current approach to trade appears to vacillate between ambivalence, pragmatism and nationalism. Three cases are used to demonstrate the interplay between these characterisations: ‘downstreaming’ and local content requirement policies, Indonesia’s relationship with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the proliferation of trade agreements, and the commodity balance sheet approach to trade. The paper argues that increasing trade and integrating further into the global value chains are important to have faster economic growth and one way to facilitate that is by improving logistics infrastructure.