Jakarta. Indonesia is mulling importing more American goods, including cotton and wheat, in a bid to convince US President Donald Trump to revise his reciprocal tariffs.

Last week, Trump unveiled sweeping new tariffs to level the playing field with nearly all US trading partners. Indonesia will be subject to a 32 percent rate starting on Wednesday. The US claimed that Indonesia had been charging its goods 64 percent tax. 

Washington claimed that the 64-percent rate that it came up with had factored in non-tariff measures, including complex import licensing regimes. Many countries, including Indonesia, immediately tried to reach out to the Trump administration to renegotiate the tariffs. Senior minister Airlangga Hartarto, too, will lead a high-level delegation to Washington DC later this month. To sweeten the offer, Jakarta is exploring the purchase of more American products so the US can improve its trade imbalance. The US is currently importing more than it exports to Indonesia by a mile.

“[There are plans to] increase the volume of American goods imports so [the US] can reduce its deficit,” Airlangga told reporters in Jakarta on Monday.

According to Airlangga, Indonesia-bound US goods have been subject to “relatively low tariffs” at just 5 percent. American soybean and wheat can enter the Indonesian market at zero tariff. The Indonesian government is also considering reducing import taxes on American products, although they have yet to make a final decision. 

Earlier that day, Airlangga held a closed-door meeting with the Indonesian businesspeople. Shinta Kamdani, who chairs the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), was among those present at the meeting that discussed how the country should best react to Trump’s tariff salvo. Shinta commented on Indonesia's plans to buy more US goods, saying that such a strategy could be the quickest way to make Indonesia’s bargain more appealing.

“We need to identify what sort of products we really need from the US, ones that will not disrupt our domestic industry. This includes cotton, wheat, corn, oil and gas, as well as defense equipment,” Shinta said.

Official government figures showed that Indonesia-US trade totaled almost $38.3 billion in 2024. However, Indonesia ran a $14.3 billion surplus that year with exports to the US reaching $26.3 billion. The Indonesian textile industry reported that it could consume up to $600 million worth of American cotton each year. The country’s textile manufacturers had proposed increasing cotton imports in response to Trump’s tariff blitz.

Trump’s recently announced reciprocal tariffs can go as high as 49 percent, and is even affecting all ASEAN members. The initial 10 percent baseline tariff on imports coming to the US already entered into force over the weekend.

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