Jakarta. The Eurasian bloc’s new trade agreement with Indonesia shows how Moscow favors free trade instead of imposing tariff hikes, according to a Russian diplomat in an indirect jab at US President Donald Trump.

Indonesia wrapped up 2025 with a free trade pact that will pave the way for greater market access to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). This $2.56 trillion bloc unites Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. In an exclusive interview with BTV, Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov described the pact as a major milestone in bilateral relations amidst global economic uncertainties. The Indonesia-EAEU trade deal is now waiting for lawmakers’ approval, but anticipation is already soaring high.

“I have heard from analysts and businesspeople. … Hopefully, in two or three years, [the agreement] will let us double our trade volume. So this will be a very good process. Because 90% of goods from Indonesia and Eurasian countries will be free of tariffs,” Tolchenov told BTV on Friday.

“It’s not like, let’s not mention, some other country that applied high tariffs for you, and asked you to sign a tariff deal. But we try to liberalize our bilateral trade,” the envoy said, alluding to Trump's trade policies.

Under this deal, Jakarta has agreed to slash its average tariff rate on EAEU goods from 10.2% to 2%, the group's regulatory body Eurasian Economic Commission stated. Not long ago, Trade Minister Budi Santoso told the Jakarta Globe that EAEU-bound palm oil would face reduced tariffs “close to 0%”. The EAEU has pledged to give Indonesian goods preferential treatment for 90.5% of the tariff lines.

The government will likely disclose more details on the final rates once the pact enters into force.

Indonesia’s trade with the EAEU in 2024 stood at an estimated $4.4 billion.

Tolchenov’s comment came at a time when Indonesia was trying to seal a deal with the US. The first round of talks dated back to April 2025, the same month when Trump unleashed his reciprocal tariff wrath against Indonesia and the rest of the world. The Trump 2.0 administration eventually agreed to lower the import tax from 32% to 19%, but only after Jakarta made a raft of concessions that included freeing American goods from tariffs and other barriers. Southeast Asia's biggest economy hopes to ink the US tariff deal within this month.

Out of the 5 EAEU economies, Russia stands as Indonesia’s biggest trading partner. Their export-import activities alone neared $4.4 billion in January-November 2025. Jakarta’s deficit with Moscow, however, had more than doubled to $934.6 million compared to the same 11-month period the previous year, Trade Ministry data revealed.

“Our two economies are not concurrent, but we are complementary to each other. We [Russia] have a strong potential in energy, … grains, and fertilizers. Indonesia is a country with tropical agriculture, some products that we do not have in Russia,” Tolchenov said.

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