Airlangga Reveals the Agreement on the RI and US Tariffs as Good News for the Industry, Especially Solid Works

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto (Photo: VOI doc)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto considers the agreement on trade tariff negotiations between Indonesia and the United States (US) to be positive news for domestic industries, especially sectors that are directly affected by tariff policies.

"Of course this is good news, especially for the Indonesian industry which is directly affected by the tariff policy, where the sectors affected by the tariffs, especially labor-intensive, employ 5 million workers, and of course this is very strategic for Indonesia," he said in a press conference. the result of negotiations directly from Washington, Tuesday, December 23.

Furthermore, Airlangga said that in the previous joint statement, Indonesia had expressed its commitment to opening market access for the United States as well as overcoming various non-tariff barriers that had been hindering cooperation between the two countries.

"We continue to encourage this Indonesian commitment through deregulation which is still being carried out by the government," he said.

As part of this step, Airlangga said the government had also formed a debottlenecking task force which was specifically tasked with resolving various obstacles faced by business actors in Indonesia.

Airlangga emphasized that all discussions in the trade tariff negotiations between Indonesia and the United States were based on the agreement that had been reached on July 22, 2025.

Previously, the trade agreement had resulted in a decision to reduce the United States' reciprocal tariffs on Indonesia from 32 percent to 19 percent.

He explained that the meeting was a follow-up to President Prabowo Subianto's direction to accelerate the completion of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) documents between Indonesia and the United States.

According to him, one of the main agreements in the negotiations was the acceleration of the drafting of the tariff agreement with the target to be completed before the end of January 2026.

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 explained.

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.