Indonesia will seek to strike trade, investment and financial-sector deals in week-long talks in Washington aimed at forestalling or mitigating planned tariffs from one of its biggest trading partners.
A team of ministers intends to propose Indonesian investment in information technology and the oil and gas sectors in the US, and closing the country’s multibillion-dollar trade gap with the world’s largest economy by buying more American goods, among other measures, officials said Monday in Jakarta.
“There’s tariffs and non-tariffs that will be part of our negotiations,” said Airlangga Hartarto, the coordinating economic minister leading the delegation. He said the team from Indonesia, which he described as “among the first nations” to hold talks in Washington, plans to meet April 16-23 with the US trade representative, the Treasury secretary, the commerce secretary and the secretary of state to negotiate tariffs.
Southeast Asia’s largest economy is among the nations hardest hit globally by tariffs planned by US President Donald Trump, facing the prospect of a 32% levy on goods ranging from palm oil to apparel and footwear. The resource-rich nation last year had a surplus of around $18 billion in trade with the US.
Hartarto was speaking after officials convened for several hours Monday to discuss and strategies to reach better terms with the US even beyond trade. The government has prepared a list of commodities it could import in greater quantities from the US and investment offers for US companies. He added that some Indonesian companies are also seeking to offer investment in the US as part of the negotiations.
Hartarto said one topic up for discussion included rules that require companies in Indonesia to locally source some content of their goods sold domestically, long a sticking point with foreign investors such as Apple Inc. President Prabowo Subianto last week said the rules needed to be eased to make Indonesia more competitive.
The meeting included representatives from the ministries of energy, finance and state-owned enterprises, as well as investment officials and the country’s Financial Services Regulator.
Others involved in the trip to the US include Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Foreign Minister Sugiono, Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Djiwandono and Mari Pangestu, a former trade minister and current member of Indonesia’s National Economic Council advisory body.
