Discussing Trump Tariffs, President Prabowo Visits PM Anwar Ibrahim

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - President Prabowo Subianto left for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at 14.25 WIB, Sunday (6/4/2025).

According to the plan, the President will meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim while also discussing steps to address the reciprocal tariffs imposed by United States President Donald Trump on U.S. trading partners, including Indonesia and Malaysia.

"Yes, that's correct. Tonight, he will meet Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur and will return directly to Jakarta the same evening," said Cabinet Secretary Lieutenant Colonel Teddy Indra Wijaya through a written message on Sunday (6/4/2025).

Teddy said that the meeting with PM Anwar Ibrahim was a gathering during the Eid celebrations.

"President Prabowo holds Prime Minister Anwar in high regard as a senior leader in ASEAN with extensive experience. He became prime minister earlier, is also older in age, and is a long-time friend of the President," added Teddy.

"However, not only that, when asked whether the President would discuss Trump's tariffs with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Teddy responded, 'Of course, when the two national leaders meet, they will certainly discuss many things, yes.'"

President Prabowo's departure was considered sudden. Previously, preparations had been made for President Prabowo's trip to five countries in the Middle East starting Monday (7/4/2025).

President Prabowo arrived at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in Jakarta at around 2:00 PM WIB. Due to heavy rain, the aircraft was only able to take off at approximately 2:25 PM WIB.

Two days prior, President Prabowo and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had a conversation via telephone to discuss measures to address Trump's tariffs.

PM Anwar uploaded it on his @anwaribrahim_my account on social media, Friday (4/4/2025). At that time, Anwar even said that he had discussed not only with the President of Indonesia, but also other partners in ASEAN, namely the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Hassanal Bolkiah, President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr, and Singaporean PM Lawrence Wong.

“As ASEAN Chair, Malaysia is committed to generating consensus among member countries and ensuring the principles of fairness and equality in trade negotiations, including within the framework of the ASEAN-US dialogue,” he wrote in Malay and English.

In addition, economic ministers from ASEAN countries will meet this week to discuss the issue. The hope, continued PM Anwar, is that there will be the best solution for all member countries.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong also said that he had discussed Trump's tariffs with PM Ibrahim. He also emphasized that Singapore will continue to work with Malaysia and ASEAN to strengthen regional economic integration and engage constructively with global trading partners.

PM Lawrence has also conveyed to his citizens about the implications of Trump's tariffs that must be faced together in a recording released on Saturday (5/4/2025).

PM Lawrence said the US was ignoring the existing system and violating the WTO framework. While the impact on Singapore is expected to be limited at the moment, the problem will be widespread if other countries do the same as the US, ignoring the WTO and trading only on the terms and conditions of each partner country.

"Singapore has decided not to impose retaliatory tariffs, but other countries may not necessarily decide the same. Therefore, a global trade war could develop. As a result, tariffs will increase and uncertainty will increase. This will further burden the global economy, international trade and investment will slow down, and global economic growth will slow down," he said.

He also acknowledged that Singapore as a country that relies heavily on trade will experience a heavier blow than other countries. PM Lawrence also invited all its citizens to be stronger in withstanding the shocks that may occur.

Previously, on April 2, US President Donald Trump announced a new trade tariff list and imposed reciprocal tariffs on its trading partner countries. Indonesia itself was hit with a reciprocal tariff of 32 percent, which is only two percent lower than the tariff imposed on China.

For Indonesia, the US is an important source of trade surplus. In 2024, Indonesia will get a surplus of 16.08 billion US dollars from trade with the US,

However, the US recorded a deficit of 17.9 billion US dollars in 2024. Therefore, Indonesia is subject to import duties of up to 32 percent. This is expected to have an impact on the decline in imports of furniture, footwear and textile products, and electronics from Indonesia.