Minister of Trade, Budi Susanto, has revealed that the government is working on bilateral cooperation options with the United States of America to facilitate the flow of Indonesian goods to the American market.
“This negotiation is important so that the competitiveness of domestic products is not burdened by import duties imposed by the United States,” Budi said on Wednesday, January 22, 2025.
The implementation of this agreement, according to him, will be carried out after seeing the tariff policy implemented by the Donald J. Trump administration.
Budi assessed that even so, he still has the opportunity to increase the volume of national trade. Trump’s policy is also considered to have the potential to increase import duties for a number of countries, which can encourage the relocation of factories to Southeast Asia, including Indonesia.
“We heard that many factories from other countries will enter neighboring countries. We have discussed this with entrepreneurs to take advantage of the opportunity well. However, we must first see the development of issues in the international market,” the minister said.
Budi cited that he had anticipated changes in the international market landscape with Trump’s election as U.S. leader. However, he did not provide a detailed explanation regarding what mitigation has been prepared.
Previously, Budi highlighted the role of the Indonesia-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA-CEPA) as an alternative to maintain export performance to the U.S. He assessed that the agreement could be used to make it easier to market our products to countries in North America.
