TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that the United States’ tariff policy under former President Donald Trump has set the tone for how global trade operates today.
She described Washington’s approach as the new “rules of the game,” highlighting how tariffs rather than international trade mechanisms now dictate the global economy.
“It indeed shows that we are operating in a global environment where the tariffs set by the United States become the rule of the game,” Sri said during a working meeting with Commission XI of the House of Representatives (DPR) at the Parliament Complex, Friday, August 22, 2025.
According to Sri, the current international trade system is increasingly moving away from the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework. Instead, major economies rely on tariff-based policies to protect their domestic industries.
She stressed that such global uncertainty should serve as momentum for Indonesia to strengthen its domestic consumption and reduce dependency on external conditions.
Data from the Ministry of Finance shows that Indonesia, which faces a reciprocal tariff rate of 19 percent, recorded a 19.3 percent trade deficit with the US. Despite this, Indonesia still enjoyed a trade surplus worth US$23.6 million between January and July 2025.
“This figure rose sharply by 44.8 percent compared to the same period last year, when the surplus was only US$16.3 million,” Sri explained.
Sri noted that Indonesia’s tariff exposure is still lower than that of other developing nations. Vietnam faces a 20 percent tariff, Mexico 30 percent, and India 20 percent, though India also applies selective tariffs on certain commodities to purchase Russian oil.
China, meanwhile, is subject to the steepest tariff rate at 55 percent, resulting in the deepest trade deficit among all major economies, a staggering 319.1 percent, according to Ministry of Finance data.
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