Jakarta. US President Donald Trump’s refusal to ease tariffs on Indonesian exports may have been expected, but what is more telling, a former senior trade negotiator said on Tuesday, is Indonesia’s persistent belief that offering a “good deal” would insulate the country from Washington’s economic nationalism.

Following Trump’s announcement in April of sweeping tariff hikes -- imposing an additional 32 percent tariff on Indonesia on top of a 10 percent baseline -- the Indonesian government dispatched a negotiation team in hopes of securing an exemption.

Jakarta recently disclosed that it had offered to increase imports from the United States by $34 billion, inspired by Vietnam’s apparent success in securing a reduced tariff rate of 20 percent.

“For months, Indonesia worked behind the scenes to convince the Trump administration that it was a reliable and fair trading partner,” said Iman Pambagyo, former Indonesian ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“Quiet diplomacy, trade concessions, and even market access gestures were on the table. But in classic Trump fashion, those gestures were met not with appreciation, but with indifference -- if not outright disdain.”

The White House’s decision to maintain the original tariff rates on Indonesia, Iman said, is a blunt reminder that Trump’s trade policy is not guided by principles of fairness or reciprocity, but by optics, leverage, and domestic political strategy.

Iman, who served for seven years as Director General for International Trade Negotiations at Indonesia’s Trade Ministry, said the decision to lump Indonesia with countries engaged in much deeper trade disputes with the US reflects a policy built on blanket pressure rather than calibrated diplomacy.

“This outcome was avoidable. Some of us warned early on that playing Trump’s game would be a trap. Now that the trap has sprung, the question is not how to appease Washington further, but how to build genuine resilience,” he said.

“Indonesia must double down on market diversification, strengthen trade diplomacy beyond the US, and stop assuming that rational offers will work with an irrational actor.”

In the current global trade landscape, Iman concluded, “hope is not a strategy -- preparedness is.”

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