Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Calls are mounting for President Prabowo to pick his envoy for the US after US President Donald Trump slapped 32 percent retaliatory tariffs on imports coming from Indonesia.
Trump recently sent shockwaves across the globe when he announced the US would impose tariffs up to a staggering 49 percent on foreign goods while accusing numerous countries of having charged Washington much higher rates. These reciprocal tariffs differ by country, depending on how unfair the bilateral trade has been in Trump's eyes. US-bound Indonesian goods will be subject to 32 percent tariffs starting on April 9.
Amid this fiasco, an Indonesian envoy for the US would have played a key role in convincing the Trump government to bring down the reciprocal tariffs or remove them altogether. However, the ambassadorial seat has remained vacant since July 2023.
Seasoned businessman Rosan Roeslani was the last person to assume the role. Rosan currently has two jobs: Prabowo's investment minister and the boss of Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund Danantara. Ex-President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has also replaced the ambassador several times during his 10-year presidency. In 2019, Mahendra Siregar – who now chairs the Financial Services Authority (OJK) – was only an ambassador for a few months. An ambassadorship typically lasts between three and four years.
A few weeks ago, Prabowo installed 31 new Indonesian ambassadors, some of whom will lead the diplomatic mission in Africa. As expected, the US was absent from the list. As Indonesia inches closer to Trump's reciprocal tariffs, all eyes are now on the vacant ambassadorial post. Economist Andry Satrio Nugroho urged Prabowo to immediately make a decision and pick someone with tons of experience in trade and investment.
"It has been almost two years since we no longer have a representative in Washington despite the US being our second-largest trading partner. This is not just negligence, but a disregard for our national interests," Andry said.
"It should be someone well-versed in economic diplomacy. Every day that goes by without an Indonesian ambassador in the US, the weaker our bargaining power gets. We will lose momentum, opportunities, and control," Andry remarked.
Anindya Bakrie, who helms the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), zeroed in on the envoy's absence in the business lobby's statement on Trump's tariffs. Kadin welcomes the government's decision to negotiate with the US government to revise the tariffs before they enter into force next week. But at the same time, Anindya acknowledges that an ambassador would be pivotal to Indonesia's engagements with the Trump government.
"To strengthen the bilateral communication, we need someone who can act as the Indonesian ambassador in the US as the diplomatic process of selecting the envoy takes place," Anindya said.
According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia-US trade surged from $34.5 billion in 2023 to almost $38.3 billion the following year. Trade totaled $3.3 billion in January alone, up by almost 10 percent from the same period in 2025.
Trump's foreign trade office recently released a report that listed the common concerns faced by American companies when doing business with Indonesia. Some of the issues raised include complex import licensing and difficulties in accessing Indonesia's pharmaceutical procurement system.