Donald Trump decided to postpone a trade attack on China. (Credit : AFP)

US postpones partial import tariffs on China, Rupiah strengthens

Siti Fatimah Adri
Politics & Economic
News Flash Indonesia
Aug 14, 2019
1610
President of United States (US), Donald Trump decided to postpone a trade attack on China. According to a statement from the US Trade Representative Office (USTR) on Tuesday (8/13), they have decided to postpone the imposition of a 10 percent tariff on 25 imported product lines from China to protect consumers in their country before Christmas season and new year 2020 holiday.

Imported goods include electronics from China, such as cellular phones, laptops, computer monitors, video game consoles. Delays in the imposition of tariffs are also carried out on imports of baby furniture, diapers, men's clothing, frozen fish, cigar holders, sugar, pesticides, bedding , school supplies, car seats, shipping containers, Bibles and other religious literature.

In addition, USTR also said that certain products were excluded from tariff lists based on health, safety, national security and other factors and wouldn’t face an additional 10 percent tariff.

This regulation made Rupiah exchange rate strengthen 0.63 percent compared to Tuesday's closing (8/13), which was Rp. 14,282 per US dollar. In the spot market trading on Wednesday (8/14) morning, Rupiah was in the position of Rp. 14,235 per US dollar.

Not only Rupiah, most of the major Asian currencies also strengthened against the US dollar in this morning. Thai Baht gained 0.01 percent, Malaysian Ringgit gained 0.2 percent, Japanese yen strengthened 0.29 percent, Philippine peso gained 0.41 percent, and South Korean won gained 0.93 percent. But Singapore dollar actually weakened 0.07 percent.

Oil prices also gained 4 percent on Tuesday (8/13). Quoting from Reuters, the price of Brent oil futures rose 4.7 percent to US $ 61.3 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil gained 4 percent to the US $ 57.1 per barrel area.

Source: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/ekonomi/20190814085012-78-421123/trump-tunda-sebagian-tarif-impor-china-rupiah-unjuk-gigi