Indonesia reports Australia to WTO over paper duty

MACROECONOMICS - Indonesia has filed a formal complaint with the WTO over Australia’s import duties on Indonesian paper.

The duties were imposed after Australia conducted an investigation into dumping accusations leveled at Indonesia’s products.

The action will most likely put on hold both countries’ commitment to seal a free trade agreement by the end of this year, an issue that has become more and more sensitive lately.

In April, Australia announced that it would apply a dumping fee on A4 paper imported from Indonesia and three other countries.

The move led to a decline in Indonesia’s paper exports to the country of up to 36.8 percent.

Indonesia responded by filing the complaint on Sept. 1.

Pradnyawati, the Trade Ministry’s director for trade security, said Indonesia had tried a diplomatic approach to solve the problem, but Australia offered no response and kept going on with its investigation.

“Therefore, the Indonesian government decided to take the issue to the WTO,” she said as quoted by kontan.co.id.