Jakarta. A senior Indonesian diplomat claimed Monday that the absence of an ambassador in the US would have little impact on Jakarta’s ongoing attempt to negotiate with the White House over the freshly launched tariff.

A universal 10 percent baseline tariff on imports to the US had been in effect since the weekend. A 32 percent reciprocal tariff is scheduled to enter into force on Wednesday after the Trump government claimed that Indonesia had been unfair in doing business with the US, thus causing the major trade imbalance. Washington also expressed concerns over Jakarta's complex import licensing regimes and local content requirement.

Indonesia at present is trying to nudge the US government into revising the reciprocal tariffs, even planning to send a high-level delegation led by senior minister Airlangga Hartarto. The Trump tariff fiasco brought people’s attention to Indonesia’s long vacant ambassadorial post in the US, which many feared could affect the country’s bargaining power at the negotiating table. Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Arif Havas Oegroseno answered reporters’ questions on whether the absence could take a toll on the negotiations, even bringing up his past experience as the Indonesian ambassador in Germany.

“Talks of such matters involve high-level representatives. I remember when I was still [the ambassador] in Germany. When we had high-level dialogues, my weight [or role as an ambassador] became smaller,” Havas told reporters in Jakarta. 

Indonesia has left the US ambassadorial post vacant for almost two years despite it being a major trading partner. President Prabowo Subianto appointed 31 new ambassadors last month, and none of them got assigned to the US. Seasoned businessman Rosan Roeslani was the last person to assume the quite short-lived job before stepping down in July 2023. Rosan is now Indonesia’s investment minister and helms the sovereign wealth fund Danantara. 

Ex-President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had pulled out two of Rosan’s predecessors before their term ended. This includes Mahendra Siregar, the current boss of the Financial Services Authority (OJK), whose ambassadorial tenure in the US only lasted for several months in 2019. The position went unfilled until businessman Muhammad Lutfi took over in September 2020. Lutfi, however, resigned in December that year to become Jokowi’s trade minister. Rosan got picked as Lutfi’s successor in October 2021, but he only handed over his ambassadorial credentials in January 2022. An ambassador usually holds his post for three or four years. And now the question of who will be Rosan’s successor resurfaces following Trump's tariffs.

“Well, hopefully soon. … But I don’t know who,” Havas said, when asked when Prabowo would announce his US envoy. 

Havas attributed the sluggish ambassador appointment to “the shift in Indonesia’s presidency” -- despite the last envoy Rosan resigning in July 2023. Indonesia held the world’s largest single-day election in February 2024 to pick the successor to Jokowi who had been in power for a decade. Prabowo officially took his oath of office in late October.   

Havas was among the senior officials that attended the government’s meeting with the Indonesian businesspeople. The talks zeroed in on Indonesia’s strategy to mitigate Trump’s tariffs. The meeting explored the possibility of Indonesia buying more American goods to help the US cut its trade imbalance.

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