GENEVA: The United States has asked the World Trade Organization to let it impose sanctions on Indonesia after winning a trade dispute that it said cost US business up to $350 million in 2017, a US filing published by the WTO showed on Monday.
The United States and New Zealand both won WTO rulings last year against Indonesian import restrictions on food, plants and animal products, including apples, grapes, potatoes, onions, flowers, juice, dried fruit, cattle, chicken and beef.
Indonesia also lost an appeal.
The latest US filing said Indonesia had not complied with the ruling, so Washington was seeking annual sanctions to compensate for the damage done to US interests.
“Based on a preliminary analysis of available data for certain products, this level is provisionally estimated at up to approximately $350 million for 2017,” it said.
“The United States will update this figure annually, as Indonesia’s economy continues to expand.
Indonesia is still studying the US move to seek sanctions, said Oke Nurwan, trade ministry’s director general of foreign trade, adding that authorities believe Jakarta had complied with the WTO panel decision. He said rules on Indonesian food imports had already been revised.
The process of seeking compensation often take years, and Indonesia is likely to contest the size of any potential sanctions.
There was no immediate sign of a similar sanctions request from New Zealand, which said last year Indonesia’s restrictions were estimated to have cost New Zealand beef sector up to NZ$1 billion. ($673 million)
Indonesia has been lobbying senior US officials to keep the Southeast Asian nation on a list of countries that receive special trade terms under the Generalized System of Preferences, a facility that gives reduced tariffs to about $2 billion of Indonesian exports.
The US Trade Representative’s Office in April said it was reviewing Indonesia’s eligibility for GSP in light of Jakarta’s imposition of a wide array of trade and investment barriers that create serious negative effects on US commerce.
Indonesia’s trade minister Enggartiasto Lukita in July said he will advise Washington that Indonesia will remove trade barriers for US apples following a WTO ruling as part of lobbying for GSP.
Indonesia scrapped a quota system for beef imports in 2016.
US seeks $350 million annual sanctions in Indonesia trade dispute
US seeks $350 million annual sanctions in Indonesia trade dispute
- The latest US filing said Indonesia had not complied with the ruling
- The process of seeking compensation often take years, and Indonesia is likely to contest the size of any potential sanctions
Lebanese social entrepreneur Omar Itani recognized by Schwab Foundation
- FabricAID co-founder among 21 global recipients recognized for social innovation
DAVOS: Lebanon’s Omar Itani is one of 21 recipients of the Social Entrepreneurs and Innovators of the Year Award by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
Itani is the co-founder of social enterprise FabricAID, which aims to “eradicate symptoms of poverty” by collecting and sanitizing secondhand clothing before placing items in stores in “extremely marginalized areas,” he told Arab News on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
With prices ranging from $0.25 to $4, the goal is for people to have a “dignified shopping experience” at affordable prices, he added.
FabricAID operates a network of clothing collection bins across key locations in Lebanon and Jordan, allowing people to donate pre-loved items. The garments are cleaned and sorted before being sold through the organization’s stores, while items that cannot be resold due to damage or heavy wear are repurposed for other uses, including corporate merchandise.
Since its launch, FabricAID has sold more than 1 million items, reached 200,000 beneficiaries and is preparing to expand into the Egyptian market.
Amid uncertainty in the Middle East, Itani advised young entrepreneurs to reframe challenges as opportunities.
“In Lebanon and the Arab world, we complain a lot,” he said. Understandably so, as “there are a lot of issues” in the region, resulting in people feeling frustrated and wanting to move away. But, he added, “a good portion of the challenges” facing the Middle East are “great economic and commercial opportunities.”
Over the past year, social innovators raised a combined $970 million in funding and secured a further $89 million in non-cash contributions, according to the Schwab Foundation’s recent report, “Built to Last: Social Innovation in Transition.”
This is particularly significant in an environment of geopolitical uncertainty and at a time when 82 percent report being affected by shrinking resources, triggering delays in program rollout (70 percent) and disruptions to scaling plans (72 percent).
Francois Bonnici, director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Executive Committee, said: “The next decade must move the models of social innovation decisively from the margins to the mainstream, transforming not only markets but mindsets.”
Award recipients take part in a structured three-year engagement with the Schwab Foundation, after which they join its global network as lifelong members. The program connects social entrepreneurs with international peers, collaborative initiatives, and capacity-building support aimed at strengthening and scaling their work.
