Due To Trump Tariffs, RI & Japan Want To Strengthen Regional Trade Cooperation

Bloomberg-Kim Kyung-Hoon

Due To Trump Tariffs, RI & Japan Want To Strengthen Regional Trade Cooperation

Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said that the Indonesian and Japanese governments have agreed to strengthen regional trade cooperation so that the supply chain does not depend on one particular country. Airlangga himself has been on a working visit to Japan since Thursday (8/5/2025). He admitted that he had met with the Japanese government and business associations. According to him, one of the topics of discussion was the current conditions related to the dynamics of reciprocal tariffs applied by US President Donald Trump to its trading partners, including Indonesia and Japan. However, Airlangga emphasized that Indonesia and Japan have different positions in negotiating import tariffs with the US.

He gave an example, Indonesia is a non-aligned country and is an exporter of natural resource commodities such as minerals. Meanwhile, Japan is a US ally and a manufacturing country that depends on its raw materials from abroad (importer of raw materials). "So of course our discussion will return to what is common between Indonesia and Japan," said Airlangga in a press statement at the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo which was broadcast online on Friday (9/5/2025).

The Golkar Party politician admitted that Indonesia and Japan are both countries that value multilateral cooperation and uphold the supremacy of law. Therefore, they encourage regional cooperation or the Asean+3 region (Asean countries along with Japan, China, South Korea). He explained that there has been an agreement on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) or national comprehensive economic partnership involving Asean and five other countries, namely Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Airlangga admitted that the Indonesian and Japanese governments want the RCEP cooperation to be deepened so that there is no trade dependence on one particular country. "So this is an alarm for Indonesia and Japan to build a stronger supply chain," he explained.