Indonesia had to lose upon the European Union's lawsuit at Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding nickel ore export ban in early 2020. This decision was recorded in DS 592, which was finalized on October 17, 2022. However, Indonesia government has stated that they will file an appeal against this decision.

Indonesia’s loss was caused by its export policy and Nickel Mineral Processing and Refining Obligation policy, which were found to violate WTO provisions. European Union (EU) filed the following claims:

1. Indonesia's export ban, domestic processing and marketing requirements, as well as export licensing requirements for raw materials, including nickel, iron ore, chromium, coal, metal waste, scrap, coke are violating Article XI:1 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994;
2. Import duty exemption scheme is a subsidy based on the use of domestic goods for imports which are prohibited under Article 3.1 b) the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM).

As the largest single nickel ore producer from 2004 to 2013, Indonesia only produced a small percentage of nickel metal namely 5%. As part of its efforts to increase nickel added value, Indonesia government has established a domestic processing and refining policy. This can undoubtedly benefit Indonesia’s economy compared to raw material exports. Export value was only US$1.1 billion when Indonesia exported nickel in raw materials. However, after government built a smelter and stopped exporting nickel raw materials, the export value increased to US$20.8 billion, or Rp300 trillion. Nickel downstream policy has been shown to increase added value by nearly 18 times.

The prohibition on raw minerals export is regulated in Article 102 of Law Number 4 of 2009 concerning Mineral and Coal Mining. Furthermore, Article 103 paragraph (2) of the law stated that domestic processing and refining of mining products (smelters) is required for implementing the program. Government then issued Regulation of Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Number 11 of 2019 concerning Second Amendment to Regulation of Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Number 25 of 2018 concerning Mineral and Coal Mining Business. As a result, government emphasized to continue maintaining its downstream nickel policy by accelerating smelters building process.

An export ban shows people sovereignty in managing their natural resources. Member of Commission VII House of Representative of Indonesia Republic, Nasyirul Falah Amru, explained that limiting nickel ore exports in nickel downstream was implemented in accordance with Indonesia's future plans to develop an electric vehicle ecosystem and achieve a target of zero carbon emissions by 2060. Furthermore, an export ban was imposed due to Indonesia's dwindling nickel reserves.

Along with numerous discussions in several national media portals regarding this dispute, the issue of imposing a nickel export tax is also being widely discussed. However, before WTO made its final decision, nickel export tax issue had been rejected by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Arifin Tasrif. Quoted from Bisnis.com, Arifin said that government had not yet prepared a policy to impose a nickel ore export tax. However, government is currently developing export tax regulations for two processed nickel ore commodities, namely Nickel Pig Iron (NPI) and Ferronickel (FeNi).

Nevertheless, there is a possibility of an increase in nickel ore export taxes. Minister of Investment/Head of BKPM, Bahlil Lahadalia, has said that export tax might be increased. This is such an effort beyond the appeal that will be filed by government. A similar response was given by Coordinating Minister for Economy, Airlangga Hartarto, stating that increasing nickel ore export taxes was one of the options government could pursue to continue nickel downstream policy, quoted from Kompas.com.