Indonesia denies sovereignty risk in trade deal with US

Pact, which is expected to be signed in January, limited strictly to trade: Minister

- Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

Indonesia has denied that a tariff agreement with the US, expected to be signed at the end of January 2026, will compromise the Southeast Asian nation's policymaking sovereignty, as it is limited solely to trade matters.

Speaking from Washington, its Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said that Jakarta expects the deal to be signed in the US by President Prabowo Subianto and his US counterpart Donald Trump.

Mr Airlangga made this statement after meeting US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Dec 22.

"Other than trade matters, we didn't touch on any other matters because this would be purely an agreement on reciprocal trade," he said during an online media briefing.

He stressed that Indonesia is sticking to its pledges to remove non-tariff barriers and various deregulations for fairer trade as conditions in the agreement.

However, he did not elaborate further.

In July, Indonesia committed to a series of strategic measures to balance trade with Washington. These included removing non-tariff barriers such as a requirement to have locally made parts in foreign products, such as Apple's iPhones.