Jokowi Mentions Trade War in ASEAN-Australia Special Summit

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) highlighted the issue of economic protectionism and trade war in the ASEAN-Australia special summit plenary session in Sydney held today.

Jokowi said that trade war is not a zero-sum game which should not be viewed from the perspective of winning or losing. The seventh Indonesian President said that trade must prosper both parties involved in the trade.

“The ASEAN-Australia partnership must set an example where an economic partnership can benefit both sides. Let this be an example of a partnership that benefits the world,” said Jokowi in the plenary session.

Jokowi also stated that the ASEAN-Australia special summit must be a locomotive for the free-trade system. “Let it be on record that the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand free trade agreement has a high average level of liberalization up to 93.5 percent,” he said.

Furthermore, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) bets on the commitment of the sectoral multilateral trade that profits everyone involved. RCEP can become the world’s largest free trade pact for representing almost half of the world’s population which accumulates to 31.6 percent of the global gross domestic product and 28.5 percent of the global trade.

At the same time, RCEP can become the antithesis of a global protectionism movement and urges other countries to strengthen the commitment to complete the RCEP negotiation this year.

“Of course we will not receive everything that we want in a deal. This is the purpose of a partnership, by using a win-win solution, not a zero-sum game,” said President Jokowi at the ASEAN-Australia special summit.

VINDRY FLORENTIN