Gao Xiaoyu, the founder of an industrial land consulting firm in Jakarta, has been inundated with calls from Chinese companies eager to expand or set up operations in Indonesia as they try to shield themselves from the United States' hefty import tariffs.
The 19% U.S. tariff rate for goods from Indonesia is the same as for Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, and just below Vietnam's 20%. China's rates currently exceed 30%.
But Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy and the world's fourth most populous country, has an edge over its neighbors — the potential of its vast consumer market.
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