Indonesian Commerce Minister Mohammad Lutfi said in an interview that Indonesia's ban on raw nickel exports has angered the European Union, and that the central government received a notification letter from the European Union about the WTO complaint and that Indonesia will challenge the EU under existing international law.
The EU sued on the grounds that the ban on the export of raw nickel ore from Indonesia was difficult for the EU steel industry. However, according to statistics, the actual nickel ore imported by the EU was too small, accounting for less than 2%. It can be seen from this that the EU does not care about raw nickel ore, but the EU is afraid of Indonesia's development of downstream nickel industry.
Indonesia's commerce minister said disputes in international trade were normal and that he was prepared to face a trade complaint by the European Union, which Indonesia has also filed at the World Trade Organization to retaliate against the EU for banning and rejecting Indonesian palm oil exports.
At present, Indonesia has received a lot of investment from China to become the world's second largest producer of stainless steel, and the Indonesian people get more benefits than the export of nickel ore, so Indonesia will not compromise with the EU on this matter.
