Indonesia to import more from the U.S. to narrow trade surplus: Minister

The rates of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, have pushed countries to seek ways to improve their trade balance with the US. And negotiate the scope of the tariffs applied to their imports.

The Indonesian plan is now “limiting”, or even eliminating its commercial surplus with the United States, said the country’s finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, to CNBC outside the spring meetings of the IMF World Bank.

This occurs after the country was beaten with a 32% tax in exports to the United States by President Donald Trump on April 2. Since then, it has reduced duty to 10% as part of its 90 -day break in the imported rate in some countries and goods.

Indrawati said that it has been perceived that the country rich in resources is avoiding trade through “non -tariff barriers”, such as administrative processes, customs processes in imported goods and tax procedures.

Indonesia now seeks to import more agricultural products such as wheat, soy and corn from the United States, he said.

“We import not only from the United States but of many others … we can always discuss how we can reduce and put the United States into a better advantage of providing products from children of agriculture,” he said.

Indonesia could also import oil and gas, especially liquid gas from the USA, as ITSS domestic production is insufficient for its energy needs, said finance minister.

Their comments arrive when the commercial surplus of Indonesia with the United States stood at $ 4.3 billion between January to March 2025, compared to the $ 3.61 billion in the same period of the previous year. The superpower was the largest taxpayer to the general commercial surplus of the Southeast Asian country of $ 10.92 billion in the first quarter.

However, Indrawati pointed out that trade to the United States represents less than 2% of the country’s gross domestic product.

“Then, it is not really so great,” since total exports represent 20% of Indonesian GDP, he added.

Even so, Indrawati said that the impact of Trump’s tariffs could feel power in other ways as countries seek to diversify their exports from the United States.

Bank Indonesia maintained his policy rates for his third consecutive review on Wednesday, in an attempt to maintain the stability of the exchange rate of the Indonesian rupe against the uncertain macroconomic perspective.

The Central Bank maintained its 7 -day reverse reputchasa reference rate, which is also known as Bi -Superposed rate, with 5.75%, as expected, all but two or 26 economists surveyed by Reuters. He also maintained his other two stable policy rates.

The measure occurs when the rupee of Indonesia reached a minimum record, while the lunch of the Yakarta compound index at the beginning of the month as capital flowed after the United States imposed “reciprocal tariffs” to countries as Indonesia.

The decision serves to safeguard the stability of Rupiah as the Central Bank continues to evaluate the future space for a cut, taking into account the inflation rate and the growth prospects of the country, Governor Perry Warjiyo said.

“Our short -term priority is the stability of the exchange rate. Once the stability is maintained, the space for a rate cut will be more open and that would be the time to decide on the policy of future interest rates,” he added.

The Rupiah became 0.12% against the dollar to 16,800 on Thursday, one day after the BI rate decision.