The ongoing government shutdown in the United States has temporarily halted trade negotiations between Indonesia and the U.S., Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto confirmed on Tuesday, October 7, 2025.

“Negotiations were being conducted via Zoom, but with the U.S. government shutdown, our discussions have also been affected meaning the process is currently on hold,” Airlangga told reporters after attending an event “Permata Bank Wealth Wisdom 2025” at Le Meridien Hotel, Jakarta.

According to him, communication with the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will continue, although no specific timeline has been set for the next round of talks.

“I will speak again tonight with the USTR to decide on the next steps. But as the US government is currently shut down, we cannot confirm any schedule yet. We’re monitoring the situation closely,” Airlangga said.

One of the central points in the ongoing talks involves tariff exemptions and reductions of up to 19 percent on several Indonesian export products, including palm oil. The negotiations have entered the legal scrubbing stage a process to harmonize the legal text before formal adoption.

“The tariff exemptions are already agreed in principle, but we are now in the legal scrubbing phase, which will be more detailed than what has been publicly announced,” Airlangga added.

The U.S. federal government shutdown, which began on October 1, 2025, followed Congress’s failure to pass a new budget in time.

As a result, many non-essential public services have been suspended and thousands of federal employees have been furloughed without pay, raising concerns about potential mass layoffs across sectors.

Investment realization

Despite the disruption in trade talks, Airlangga noted positive progress in domestic investment. He revealed that Indonesia’s investment realization in the third quarter of 2025 reached Rp1,400 trillion, or 73.6 percent of the government’s annual target of Rp1,900 trillion.

The first half of the year saw Rp942 trillion in realized investment a 13.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024.

“Through investment, the first semester reached Rp 942 trillion, up from last year’s figure,” Airlangga said.

“And after discussing with the Minister of Investment and Downstreaming, Rosan Roeslani, who also serves as CEO of Danantara, we can confirm that by Q3, the target has been met, Rp 1,400 trillion from our year-end goal of Rp 1,900 trillion,” he added.

Airlangga emphasized that robust investment inflows, particularly in the downstream sector, would help sustain economic growth amid global uncertainty and trade disruptions.