Speaking at his office in Jakarta on Friday, Minister Hartarto explained that the tariff applies only to goods entering the Mexican market, and crucially, Indonesia does not have an import dependency on Mexico.
“That is [applied] to goods entering Mexico, so for Indonesia, it is not [a concern/does not have an impact],” he said.
Given the potentially minimal effect, the Minister also confirmed that the government currently has no plans to negotiate with Mexico regarding the new policy.
The Mexican Senate approved the draft legislation to raise tariffs by up to 50 percent on Wednesday (December 10). This measure is scheduled to take effect on January 1 and targets more than 1,400 product lines.
The affected categories include: automobiles and vehicle parts, textiles and apparel, steel, plastics, footwear, and household appliances.
The tariff increase is specifically aimed at countries that do not have a free trade agreement with Mexico.
These nations include, but are not limited to, China, Thailand, India, South Korea, and Indonesia.
Amid mounting pressure from the United States (US) and escalating trade tensions between the two North American nations, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum defended the policy.
She stated that the measure was implemented to support domestic production.
The decision to raise tariffs followed a threat made by former US President Donald Trump on December 8.
In a statement on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump threatened to impose a five percent tariff on Mexican exports.
Trump's threat was tied to a water-sharing dispute under a 1944 treaty, demanding that Mexico deliver 200,000 acre-feet of water before the end of the year to address supply shortages in the US state of Texas.
Despite these tensions, the US remains Mexico's primary trading partner, with annual trade valued at approximately $334 billion (equivalent to around 5,568 trillion rupiahs).
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Translator: Imamatul Silfia, Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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