The EU’s trade relations with South-East Asian powerhouse Indonesia have come under renewed strain with Indonesia preparing to slap a 20-25% tariff on dairy products from the EU in response to the EU whacking 8-18% tariffs on Indonesian biodiesel. How dair-EU!

Indonesia’s population of 260 million is over half the size of the entire EU, it’s currently the 16^th largest economy in the world and growing at a pacey 5% a year. Indonesia’s trade minister is so cheesed off he’s ordered dairy importers to find new suppliers outside the EU. Indonesia is the fifth largest non-EU importer of dairy products in the world so this is no trifling matter.

After Liz Truss’s big cheese push at DEFRA, it just so happens that the UK will in a matter of weeks be the third largest non-EU exporter of dairy products in the world, and is about to regain control of its own tariff schedules, putting it in pole position to cream off the the EU’s market share. Brits get cheap biodiesel and textiles, while Indonesians will get top-quality Cheddar, Stilton, Yarg, Brie, Wensleydale and clotted cream. Perfect!