Indonesia’s President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo says his nation will appeal a recent ruling from the World Trade Organization (WTO) that favored the European Union in a dispute over Indonesia’s ban on nickel ore exports.Indonesia, previously the world’s biggest exporter of nickel ore, announced a ban on the export of the unprocessed mineral in August 2019, and introduced domestic processing requirements that have required businesses to process or purify the raw materials in Indonesia before export.“The EU supports the rights of all countries to economic development, but this does not give a license to set aside WTO rules.”The WTO ruling poses a direct challenge to the Jokowi administration’s policy of economic nationalism: i.e., its desire to ensure the country’s raw materials should be developed domestically rather than exported to the benefit of foreign industry.The purpose of the export bans is to encourage foreign companies to invest in nickel smelters and other processing facilities in Indonesia, to create jobs and increase how much the country earns from the export of vital raw minerals.Whether the spoils of these resources would be distributed equitably within Indonesia is an open question, of course, but it is clear that Jakarta views the development of its natural resources as a question of equity between the Global North and South."