President Trump’s aggressive tariff policy, including those imposed on Indonesian products, directly threatens several of the country’s key export sectors. This is no longer just a matter of trade balance, it concerns millions of workers and the future of our national industries.
Indonesia is now facing a 32% tariff that affects strategic sectors such as textiles, footwear, electronics, rubber, and palm oil, industries that provide employment for a significant portion of the population.
Although these tariffs have been temporarily postponed, the challenge is far from over. Indonesia’s heavy reliance on industrial inputs from China leaves us vulnerable to indirect impacts, especially as China’s export restrictions to the U.S. disrupt global supply chains.
Economic cooperation seems to have transformed into a tool of geopolitics. Major powers are leveraging what is known as weaponized interdependence to expand their influence.
Weaponized interdependence is a concept in the global political economy that describes how dominant countries exploit cross-border economic dependencies as instruments of pressure to achieve their strategic goals.
In a landscape like this, Indonesia must do more than simply go with the flow, it needs to actively navigate and, where possible, shape the current. But how?
With all its complexity, the paper below explores in depth the Trump administration’s trade policies and their broader implications.
To understand more deeply the nature of geo-economics and how Indonesia can strengthen its position amid global uncertainty, download the full paper below. 👇
