Economists ask for leniency in U.S. trade policy<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian economists expressed their
\ndissatisfaction in a World Net dialogue here yesterday over the
\nU.S. policy on trade with Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Rizal Ramli, the managing director of Advisory Group in
\nEconomic, Industry and Trade (Econit), said that the U.S. trade
\npolicy for Indonesia is not as lenient as that for China.<\/p>\n
The dialog, jointly organized by the Indonesia Economists
\nAssociation (ISEI) and the U.S. Information Service (USIS),
\npresented Nancy Adams, the assistant of the U.S. Trade
\nRepresentative for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC),
\nas speaker. She held her end of the discussion from Washington,
\nvia electronic communication.<\/p>\n
Citing an example, Ramli told Adams about the failure of last
\nmonth's bilateral textile negotiations between Indonesia and the
\nUnited States.<\/p>\n
Ramli blamed the failure on the U.S.'s hard line in the
\nnegotiations, saying that "Indonesia is not happy about the
\ndeadlock."<\/p>\n
The United States is Indonesia's single largest market,
\nimporting about US$1 billion worth of textile and garments last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Based on the old agreement, Indonesia was allowed to increase
\nthe volume of its garments and textile exports to the American
\nmarket by six percent a year.<\/p>\n
Other speakers in yesterday's dialog were Director General of
\nTax Fuad Bawazier, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Barry,
\nU.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Jeffrey R. Shafer,
\nChairman of ISEI Marzuki Usman, Chamrul Djafri of the Indonesian
\nTextile Association and Rudy Lengkong of the National Agency for
\nExport Development.<\/p>\n
Chamrul stressed the need for the U.S. administration to give
\nmore room for its textile negotiators who are going to try and
\nresuscitate the ailing negotiations at the end of this month.<\/p>\n
"Where's the beef in the U.S. policy?" Ramli said, quoting a
\nfamous, American hamburger advertisement. He explained that the
\nAmericans should not just talk but also take action.<\/p>\n
Relocation<\/p>\n
Marzuki also suggested that the Clinton administration support
\nthe relocation of certain industrial activities from the United
\nStates to Indonesia, in a bid to increase U.S. investments in
\nthis country.<\/p>\n
He said that it is better for American companies to relocate
\ntheir factories to Indonesia due to the high cost of labor in the
\nUnited States.<\/p>\n
According to Marzuki, rather than selling machinery for labor
\nintensive industries on the Indonesian market, American business
\npeople could use the machines in Indonesia, where labor wages are
\nrelatively low.<\/p>\n
Adams, whose is in charge of developing and implementing trade
\nand investment initiatives in Asia and the Pacific, declined to
\ngive a direct response. He did say that Asia-Pacific countries
\nhave to work together to increase their performance.<\/p>\n
Ramli told Adams that Indonesia, due to its vast land area and
\ngrowing influence both in international politics and economics,
\ndeserves a more lenient U.S. policy.<\/p>\n
Marzuki added that the Jakarta government had also followed
\nthe advice of the Americans to continually deregulate Indonesia's
\nbusiness activities to encourage foreign investments.<\/p>\n
Ironically, American business people are not very interested
\nin investing in Indonesia, he said.<\/p>\n
Ambassador Barry said it was important for Indonesian
\ncompanies to honor labor rights and said that there is no need to
\naccuse so-called "third parties" in every labor dispute.<\/p>\n
He said the American people knew that the illusion of the
\ncommunists standing behind all of Indonesia's social problems was
\nfalse. (09)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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