What Is President Prabowo Prepared To Respond To Trump's Import Tariff Policy?

Dok White House Official

What Is President Prabowo Prepared To Respond To Trump's Import Tariff Policy?

Tuesday, 08 Apr 2025

The Indonesian government responded to the increase in import tariffs imposed by the United States under President Donald Trump's new policy with strategic steps that had been prepared well in advance.

Deputy for Dissemination and Information Media of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Noudhy Valdryno stated that President Prabowo Subianto had prepared three major breakthroughs to face global challenges, including the new tariff policy from Uncle Sam's country.

"In facing global challenges, including the new tariff policy of the United States, President Prabowo has shown his keenness in seeing geopolitical dynamics. A deep understanding of international relations and global trade is a major strength in maintaining Indonesia's economic stability," said Noudhy in an official statement as quoted by Antara, Thursday, April 3, 2025.

The tariff policy dubbed Reciprocal Tariffs or "Trump tariffs" was officially announced by President Donald Trump on April 2, 2025 in the Rose Garden of the White House. This policy sets a minimum tariff of 10 percent on all imported products, with additional higher special tariffs for certain countries. Indonesia, along with Taiwan, is one of the countries subject to a tariff of 32 percent, the second highest after Cambodia.

Responding to this, the Indonesian government emphasized that President Prabowo has prepared three main breakthroughs: expanding trading partners, accelerating the downstreaming of natural resources, and strengthening domestic consumption.

Expansion of Global Trading Partners

The first step, according to Noudhy, is to expand Indonesia's trading network with various countries. One of them is done by submitting Indonesia's membership in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), which covers around 40 percent of global trade.

In addition, Indonesia is also active in various multilateral trade agreements such as RCEP which involves ASEAN countries as well as Australia, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand. RCEP itself covers 27 percent of world trade. Indonesia also has access to organizations such as the OECD (64 percent of global trade) and other agreements such as CP-TPP, IEU-CEPA, and I-EAEU CEPA

On a bilateral scale, Indonesia has established trade cooperation with various countries such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Chile.