Jakarta. Foreign Affairs Ministry’s spokesman Roy Soemirat said Monday that President Prabowo Subianto to this day still has not received any invitation to attend US President-Elect Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration next month.

Trump is set to take his oath of office on Jan. 20. He has invited several world leaders to attend his big day. According to the Associated Press, Trump said that he had extended an invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping. He, however, claimed Xi had neither confirmed nor declined the offer. Argentine President Javier Milei and his Salvadoran counterpart Nayib Bukele also got an invitation. To date, no head of state has ever come to the US for a presidential inauguration. 

“It is something that we still monitor. As of now, we have not received an official invite. But we will try to find out whether it is usual to have [foreign representatives] in the inauguration ceremony. Certain countries do not usually invite [other heads of states],” Roy told the press in Jakarta on Monday. 

The last time Prabowo and Trump interacted was when the former called the American politician to congratulate his victory. Prabowo, however, did not meet Trump when he visited Washington last month.

Indonesia-US trade amounted to nearly $31.6 billion in January-October 2024, up from $28.7 billion compared to the same period the previous year, Trade Ministry data shows. Indonesia enjoyed an $11.5 billion surplus in the first 10 months of 2024.

Trump has threatened to wage a trade war against China by planning to impose massive tariff hikes on Chinese goods. This could prompt China to reroute its US-bound goods to other markets, including Indonesia. In other words, Jakarta could potentially suffer a tidal wave of Chinese goods. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) even warned that Indonesia would not be immune to the impact of any trade policy made by Trump. Prabowo wants to book an 8 percent growth during his presidential term.

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