Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati revealed the Indonesian government's efforts to increase imports of a number of strategic commodities from the United States (US). These commodities include oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and agricultural products such as wheat, soybeans and corn. Sri Mulyani said that trade and non-trade barriers are currently the focus of the government. Indonesia is continuously evaluating various trade barriers, both tariffs and non-tariffs, in order to create a more open and efficient trade climate. "On the tariff side, most of Indonesia's tariffs are actually very low, but we will always evaluate and see if there are areas that we can improve on the tariff side," Sri Mulyani said on Sunday (27/4/2025). "For example in the customs process when importing goods, or in terms of assessment, tax procedures, or quarantine for agricultural products," explained Sri Mulyani.
Furthermore, Sri Mulyani highlighted the importance of agricultural products from the US which have a major contribution to Indonesia's food security. So far, Indonesia has not only imported from the US, but also from many other countries. "Products such as wheat, soybeans and corn are agricultural products that are also consumed in Indonesia quite significantly. In that context we can always discuss how we can narrow the gap and put the US in a better position to provide this type of agricultural product," he said. In the energy sector, although Indonesia production capacity is still not sufficient for domestic needs. Therefore, the Indonesian government sees an opportunity to increase energy imports, especially LNG from the US. "So these are all areas where we can certainly outsource oil and gas from the US, including Boeing products and so on." Sri Mulyani explained. As is known, additional imports from the US are made to reduce the US trade deficit with Indonesia. This is an offer to reduce the high US tariffs for Indonesian goods.
