No More Obstacles, Airlangga Reveals the Reciprocal Tariff Agreement between RI and the US is Ready to be Signed
JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto has confirmed that there are no obstacles to signing the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) between Indonesia and the United States.
"So there is no longer any factor that could hinder the signing of this ART," he explained in a press conference following the direct negotiations from Washington, Tuesday, December 23.
Airlangga explained that the process of discussing the legal dynamics over the past few days was normal, especially regarding the harmonization of language in the agreement document.
"Then the second dynamic that occurs as usual in this discussion of details there is a problem of harmonization rather than language. So that's something natural in the discussion to reach an agreement in ART," he explained.
Airlangga emphasized that this negotiation was purely discussing trade agreements and did not include political agreements or other issues.
"Then besides the trade agreement, we did not discuss other agreements because this is purely an agreement on reciprocal trade," he added.
Airlangga added that in the second week of January 2026, a technical team from both countries is scheduled to hold a follow-up meeting to continue the legal drafting process and document refinement.
"The Indonesian and United States technical teams will resume technical meetings for legal drafting and clean up of documents, which are targeted to be completed within a tentative one week between January 12 and 19 (2026)," he said.
According to him, the cooperation contained in this agreement is commercial and strategic, and is designed to provide balanced economic benefits for Indonesia and the United States.
He added that this agreement will later be signed directly by the President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto and US President Donald Trump.
"After all the technical processes are completed, it is expected that before the end of January this document will be prepared to be officially signed by President Prabowo and President of the United States Mr. Donald Trump," he said.
Airlangga said that currently, the United States is arranging the right meeting schedule for the two leaders.
With the signing of the agreement, he is optimistic that the opening of market access between the two countries can immediately provide an impetus for Indonesia's economic growth.