Jakarta. Purwakarta-based company Indorama plans to make a $2 billion investment in Louisiana as Jakarta’s tariff talks with the United States continue. However, Indorama might be one of the very few Indonesian companies that are looking to make an outward investment to one of the world’s largest economies, according to a business association.

Over the past few weeks, the Indonesian government has been in talks with US President Donald Trump’s team over Washington’s looming reciprocal tariffs. Indonesia has expressed hope that Trump will reconsider his plan of charging US-bound Indonesian goods a 32 percent import tax, although the new rates are currently on hold until July 9.

Jakarta has also made some offers to get the US to change its mind, one of them being Indorama’s $2 billion investment, as Trump wants foreign companies to ramp up their US investments. Chief Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto, who heads the negotiations, revealed that Indorama would invest in a blue ammonia project in Louisiana.

Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairwoman Shinta Kamdani said recently Indonesia's investment in the US remains insignificant.

“The US government is indeed trying to bring more foreign investments into its country. However, all this time, our focus has not been much on outbound investment. The amount of our investments in the US is still way too small,” Shinta told a news conference in Jakarta.

“Our appetite to invest in the US is not that big. US businesses also have to make sure that the investment is profitable,” Shinta said.

When Airlangga first unveiled Indorama’s plans in late April, the minister said that the blue ammonia project was already in the so-called front-end engineering design. In other words, the company was still figuring out the technical issues and rough investment costs. Airlangga also said that Indorama already had polyethylene terephthalate (PET) factories in the US.

“Corporations [like Indorama] have their schedule and stages [for this project]. Let’s just wait because this is a corporate action,” Airlangga said when asked when Indorama’s blue ammonia project would begin construction.  

According to its official website, Indorama produces polyester and spun yarns for the global market. A 10 percent baseline tariff on all US imports is already in place.

Despite far from being America’s top foreign investor, Indonesia has attracted substantial US investments over the past years. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, Indonesia amassed $802.2 million worth of investments from the US. In the ranking, the US was Indonesia’s sixth-largest foreign investor, just behind Japan ($1 billion). Indonesia wants to close the tariff deal within 60 days or by June.

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