Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto recently said Indonesia would treat the US and China as its equals amid Jakarta's attempts to steer clear of taking sides in the major power rivalry.

Indonesia has been trying to strike a balance as the world's richest economies continue to engage in intense strategic competition. In an hours-long media interview session uploaded during the Eid holidays, Prabowo said Jakarta would stick to this neutral stance.

“We don’t want to get involved in the US-China struggle for hegemony. We don’t want to pick either one. We will be equal. We will treat them as equals. We will treat them equally,” Prabowo told a group of experts and senior journalists in his Hambalang home.

“We want to have the same good relations with all of them.”

As expected, the rare media interview saw Prabowo getting bombarded by questions on the US trade deal. The Prabowo government had been under fire for signing up to the accord last month, as analysts fear that the agreement is heavily one-sided in favor of Washington. The pact commits Indonesia to removing a great deal of import duties and non-tariff measures. Asked about the 45-page document, Prabowo affirmed that Jakarta still had solid “guardrails”. 

“The checks-and-balances still exist,” Prabowo said, citing that Indonesia would still need lawmakers’ approval before the terms could kick in.

Jakarta sees nothing wrong with the removal of non-tariff measures with the US, as Beijing has already received similar treatment.

“We [Indonesia] have a free trade area with China and the European Union. You know what that means? It means we should not impose non-tariff barriers on them [the US],” Prabowo said.

Economists have cautioned that parts of Indonesia’s tariff deal are aimed at weakening Chinese influence in the region. China is also aware of the clause that commits Jakarta to mirror Washington’s import restrictions, with Beijing saying that any bilateral cooperation “should not target any third party”. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Yvonne Mewengkang had said the deal “does not change the principles of [Indonesia’s] foreign policy” as Jakarta remains open to working with anyone.

Government data showed Indonesia-US trade totaled $43.8 billion throughout 2025. In justifying its tariff policies, the Donald Trump 2.0 administration has been complaining about the seismic deficits, as Indonesia’s bilateral goods trade surplus reached $18 billion last year.

Indonesia’s trade with China was also as big as almost $154.6 billion. However, it was Jakarta that ran a deficit totaling a whopping $20.5 billion. Indonesia and China are part of the world’s largest trade deal: the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.

In recent months, Prabowo has frequently interacted with Trump; parts of their interactions were related to the latter’s Board of Peace for Gaza. Trump had even called Prabowo “a tough cookie” and even repeatedly described him as a “friend”. He also flew to Washington to seal the aforementioned tariff deal just last month. A US Supreme Court ruling — coupled with Trump’s subsequent unfair trade practice probes — has put the deal in limbo. Indonesia’s chief tariff negotiator Airlangga Hartarto has said that the February reciprocal trade agreement should enable Indonesia to navigate the probes “much easier”.

Since assuming power in October 2024, Prabowo has traveled to Beijing a couple of times. He even made the Chinese capital his first-ever international stop. 

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