TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The United States government has released the points of the trade agreement with Indonesia. One of these includes Indonesia's commitment to lifting restrictions on exporting critical minerals to the U.S.
Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto confirmed that Indonesia will continue exporting processed minerals to the U.S. "What will be exported is processed mineral," he said at his office in Central Jakarta on Wednesday, July 23, 2025.
He ensured that the negotiations on U.S. import tariffs would not touch the ban on raw mineral exports. "No, there are details inside, nothing will be removed," he said.
The statement regarding the revocation of export restrictions is included in the Joint Statement on Framework for U.S.-Indonesia Agreement on Reciprocal Trade. "Indonesia will remove restrictions on exports to the United States of industrial commodities, including critical minerals," the White House wrote in a press release on July 22, 2025.
The U.S. government announced this joint statement after imposing a 19 percent import tariff on Indonesian products. Ministry of Coordinating for the Economy Spokesperson Haryo Limanseto stated that the government will explain the details of mineral exports in the future. "Everything will have details later. So in general, what they (the U.S.) expect, there will definitely be details later on. We also have domestic regulations that require adjustments and so on," he told Tempo, on Wednesday, July 23, 2025.
Based on Law Number 3 of 2020, the Indonesian government prohibits the export of raw minerals and is committed to downstreaming. Commodity producers such as nickel, bauxite, and copper must build refining facilities in the country before exporting their products.
The United States has previously criticized this ban in the 2025 National Trade Estimate (NTE) document. The U.S. Trade Representative's Office (USTR) expressed concerns about the potential impact of this policy on the steel and aluminum industries and the resulting global overcapacity.
Indonesia Mining Association (IMA) Executive Director Hendra Sinadia advised the public to wait for the government's official statement regarding the lifting of critical mineral exports. "Perhaps we have to wait for a more official statement from the government, such as what the translation of this agreement into our regulations will be. But as far as I know, it does not allow exports. The success of our downstreaming until now is because there is an obligation to ban exports," he said at Sarinah Building on Wednesday, July 23, 2025.
He emphasized that the ban on raw nickel export is already in effect. All mined minerals must go through processing before the government allows them to be exported.
Eka Yudha Saputra contributed to the writing of this article
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