Jakarta. Indonesia is willing to share the data that the US requires in its freshly launched unfair trade probes against Southeast Asia's biggest economy, according to a senior official.

The Donald Trump 2.0 administration has just initiated two investigations, one targeted at Jakarta's excess capacity in manufacturing sectors, while the other zeroes in on its imports linked to forced labor. The investigation came after the US Supreme Court ruled that Trump did not have the right to impose his reciprocal tariffs last April. Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs’ spokesman Haryo Limanseto has said that Indonesia would "follow the process" by providing the necessary information.

“We will share the data. We believe that the deficit-inducing overproduction — be it in Indonesia and all the other countries — is not intentional. It’s just part of the business process, where there is a production surplus,” Haryo told reporters in Jakarta on Friday evening.

The investigations are expected to enable Trump to rebuild his tariff pressure. Indonesian goods are currently subject to the temporary 10% global tariffs, which Trump introduced after the Supreme Court tore down his earlier import levies. Trump has floated a plan to raise the global tariffs to 15%, but this decision still awaits an executive order.

Indonesia wishes to stick to the terms of a deal signed last month. The pact includes exemptions on its US-bound key commodities such as palm oil and textiles. Despite the latest developments, senior minister Airlangga Hartarto — who has been helming the US tariff deal negotiations — still has no plan to travel to Washington for talks with Trump’s top trade official Jamieson Greer. 

“We [Indonesia] are optimistic,” Haryo said, while saying that the earlier tariff deal “should have made the process easier”.

The first trade investigation into excess industrial capacity targeted 16 countries. The federal register notice saw the US naming Indonesia’s persistent, multibillion-dollar goods trade surpluses as proof of this overproduction. In the latest probe, the US launched investigations into 60 economies — including Jakarta – accused of having failed to curb imports produced with forced labor. Fellow ASEAN members Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines are also subject to the forced labor investigation.

“Despite the international consensus against forced labor, governments have failed to impose and effectively enforce measures banning goods produced with forced labor from entering their markets,” Greer said.

“For too long, American workers and firms have been forced to compete against foreign producers who may have an artificial cost advantage gained from the scourge of forced labor.”

Read More: Trump Launches Unfair Trade Probe into Indonesia

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