Jakarta. Indonesia is expected to start negotiating a tariff-slashing agreement with the UK in the foreseeable future, with Jakarta hoping to secure the deal much faster than it did with the European Union.

Two of President Prabowo Subianto’s ministers confirmed that an Indonesia-UK trade pact was in the pipeline. The treaty will also be on the level of a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA). In other words, it will likely grant major tariff reductions and ease other barriers. Trade Minister Budi Santoso disclosed some details of this accord on the sidelines of the 2026 Indonesia Economic Summit.

Budi admitted that Indonesia was trying to grow its list of trade deals for market diversification. It has already secured one with the Switzerland-led European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and will have a similar deal with the EU soon. And now Southeast Asia’s biggest economy wants to gain greater access to the UK. However, Jakarta is keeping its fingers crossed that the London negotiations will be swift.   

“We shall start the negotiations soon. We will tell them [London] that we have made deals with the EU and EFTA. So the talks shouldn’t take long. I do hope we can finish it as soon as possible. The EU deal took us around 10 years, so [maybe for the UK], we will remove the zero,” Budi said, alluding to the fact that Jakarta wanted to finish it in one year.

For context, Indonesia began negotiating the EU deal in 2016. It was not until September 2025 that both sides announced the substantive conclusion. Asked whether the upcoming UK CEPA would cut the tariffs down to 0%, Budi only responded that such terms would “depend on the actual agreement”. 

The same conference saw Chief Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto corroborating this plan. He admitted that the bilateral economic growth partnership arrangement signed last month had already served as a building block. The non-legally binding arrangement reflected Indonesia-UK’s intent to augment trade and investment.

“The economic growth partnership is the first step. So the next step is to upgrade it to a CEPA,” Airlangga said.

The Trade Ministry reported that Indonesia’s surplus with the UK had weakened from $826.2 million in 2024 to $529.8 million the following year. Bilateral trade was close to $2.7 billion in 2025.

Prabowo had unveiled this upcoming UK trade accord when he described Indonesia as a long-standing “trading nation” at the Davos forum last month. The president at the time had just come from London, where he met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 

“We hope next year we can conclude a CEPA with the UK. This is part of our strategy to deepen productivity, reduce barriers, and unlock private sector growth for Indonesia, ASEAN, and the Global South,” Prabowo said.

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