Jakarta. Indonesia’s top trading partner China recently called on Indonesia to jointly oppose trade protectionism, alluding to US President Donald Trump’s recent tariff hammer on the world’s economies.

Indonesia and China held a so-called “2+2 ministerial dialogue” between their foreign and defense ministers on Monday local time. 

The meeting, which took place in Beijing, came at a time when all eyes across the globe turned to Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. Trump has decided to slap a 32 percent import tax on Indonesian goods about to enter the American market, starting in early July. A blanket tariff of 10 percent is already in effect. China, on the other hand, is on a back-and-forth tariff war with the US, even warning other countries against appeasing Trump in trade deals. Trump has charged up to 245 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, which include a 125 percent reciprocal tariff.

The ministers attending the 2+2 dialogue spoke to the press after the talks. China’s top diplomat Wang Yi revealed that the ministers had also discussed trade protectionism, although he did not specifically mention Trump’s tariffs.

“We are each other’s major trading partners. We should stay committed to openness, inclusiveness, women cooperation, and oppose any kind of unilateralism or trade protectionism,” Wang said in the livestream broadcasted by ANI News.

“We believe that abusing tariffs will seriously undermine the normal trade exchanges between countries. We will jointly promote regional economic integration. [As well as] ensuring stable and smooth supply and industrial chains …” Wang told the news conference.

His Indonesian counterpart Sugiono did not touch on trade protectionism when it was his turn to speak during the presser. However, he did say that Indonesia welcomed the upgraded free trade agreement between China and ASEAN. For context, the upgraded deal, whose negotiations reached substantial conclusion last year, has introduced cooperation in the digital and green economy, among others.

Indonesia-China trade totaled nearly $135.2 billion in 2024, Jakarta reported.

Rivals China and the US are at opposite ends when trading with Indonesia. According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the US made up the lion’s share of Indonesia’s non-oil and gas trade surplus in the first quarter of 2025, totaling $5.1 billion. In other words, Indonesia’s exports to the US exceed what it imports. Chinese goods, on the other hand, are flooding the Indonesian market. Statistics showed that Indonesia ran a deficit of almost $4.7 billion with China in non-oil and gas trade in the first three months of 2025. This also made Beijing the biggest contributor to Jakarta's deficit.

Indonesia -- like some other countries -- to negotiate deals with the US to lower the tariffs. Jakarta has even given itself a deadline to wrap up the talks in 60 days, while offering to buy more American goods so Washington can fix its trade imbalance.

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