Thursday, March 12, 2026 — Civil Society Organizations consisting of Solidaritas Perempuan, Koalisi Perempuan Indonesia, MADANI Berkelanjutan, WALHI, Serikat Petani Indonesia, JATAM, and Kesatuan Perempuan Pesisir Indonesia commemorated International Women's Day 2026 by holding a press conference at YLBHI as a space to voice their stance in response to the Indonesian Government's involvement in the Board of Peace and reciprocal trade agreements or Agreements on Reciprocal Trade (ART).
We, the alliance of civil society organizations, state our objection to the trade agreement between the United States Government and the Republic of Indonesia. An international agreement with such wide-ranging impacts on society should not be exempt from the obligation to comply with prevailing laws and regulations.
Furthermore, based on the 2018 Constitutional Court Decision on the judicial review of Law Number 24 of 2000 concerning International Treaties filed by the civil society alliance, international agreements that have broad and fundamental impacts on the lives of the people, create new legal norms, or concern economic sovereignty cannot be unilaterally disconnected by the president or other executive institutions; rather, they must obtain the approval of the House of Representatives (DPR) through a statutory mechanism.
This trade agreement does not merely regulate import tariffs and trade quota agreement clauses as widely publicized. Instead, it enters the very heart of political economy and holds massive potential to narrow national policy space in protecting the agricultural, food, and natural resource sectors, as well as the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and fishermen, and the living spaces of people working in rural areas.
The Serikat Petani Indonesia (Indonesian Farmers Union) assesses that this agreement expands recognition toward the United States (US) regulatory system while disregarding national food trade regulations, as seen from the exemption of US agricultural products from the commodity balance policy and various import licensing regimes, being subjected only to automatic licensing. This agreement contains significant disparities in regulating agricultural commodities. Indonesia is required to liberalize the import of US agricultural commodities valued at USD 4.5 billion, including cotton, soybeans, soybean meal, and wheat in volumes of millions of tons per year, as well as guaranteeing minimum import increases for beef, corn, rice, fresh fruit, and other products at certain minimum levels.
This commitment has the potential to suppress domestic production, weaken farmers' bargaining power, and disrupt price stability at the producer level, especially for strategic commodities like soybeans, corn, and rice that affect the livelihoods of many people. Meanwhile, the access of Indonesian products to the US market is not bound by an equivalent minimum purchase scheme; instead, it remains subject to reciprocal tariffs and various trade provisions that can change according to US policies.
WALHI (The Indonesian Forum for Environment) views that the ART Agreement clearly shows the United States' ambition to control Indonesia's natural resources. Indonesia is required to eliminate various export restrictions to the US market, especially for industrial commodities and critical minerals. Although the government states that the exports are not raw materials due to the domestic downstreaming process, downstreaming cooperation involving the US indicates the potential dominance of that country over the entire supply chain. This situation has the potential to drive the expansion of mining activities and their processing facilities, many of which are located in coastal areas and small islands.
This expansion increases the risk of deforestation, sedimentation, and heavy metal pollution in rivers and seas that can damage coral reefs and seagrass beds, thereby lowering coastal fisheries productivity. WALHI notes that there are at least 248 mining permits spread across 43 small islands in Indonesia—regions with very limited ecological carrying capacities that are highly vulnerable to permanent damage. Therefore, this trade agreement has the potential to accelerate environmental destruction, which was already under severe pressure from extractive economic practices in Indonesia.
JATAM (Mining Advocacy Network) describes the ART agreement not as an economic opportunity or a strengthening of strategic relations, but as a new form of US colonialism in Indonesia welcomed by President Prabowo. Through this agreement, the ART locks Indonesia into a fossil fuel regime and extractive industries that serve the market needs and supply chains of the United States, including the obligation to facilitate imports of oil, LPG, and coal, as well as opening the doors wide for US investment in the critical minerals sector. Meanwhile, the language of "labor" and "environment" within the ART stops at mere rhetoric; there is no real obligation to guarantee decent wages and safety for workers, nor is there any binding human rights audit, ecological recovery, or grievance mechanism for affected communities binding both countries and corporations.
Even before this agreement, extractive industry operations across the Indonesian Archipelago have proven to cause ecological destruction that threatens public safety, damages customary structures, and creates structural poverty, as seen in Halmahera (North Maluku) and Sumatra. This damage is irreversible and threatens the economic sustainability of the people in the agricultural and fisheries sectors due to the polluted environment. In line with the ART, JATAM also highlights the renewal of the Freeport MoU, which will result in "permanent colonialism" in Papua. Consequently, the destruction of rivers and customary lands will widen, human rights violations will increase, and the deployment of the military in civil spheres will be further reinforced.
Solidaritas Perempuan (Women's Solidarity for Human Rights) deems the ART to be substantively problematic and procedurally flawed due to a lack of public participation, non-transparency, and a disregard for constitutional mechanisms that should involve oversight and approval from public representative bodies. For women, political decisions cannot be separated from social justice, the recovery of affected communities, and the meaningful participation of women. State diplomacy must not become an elite project that ignores the real lives of the people, particularly grassroots women.
The ART has the potential to deepen the liberalization of strategic sectors, weaken labor protections, and open up wider avenues for the exploitation of Indonesia's natural resources. In the context of an Indonesia still overshadowed by the impacts of the Job Creation Law (UU Cipta Kerja), such an agreement risks exacerbating the situation for women—ranging from increased labor vulnerability with low wages, destruction of livelihoods, a greater burden of reproductive work that is unrecognized and unprotected by the state, to the feminization of labor migration that is vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking.
The policy to eliminate fisheries subsidies, including fuel (BBM) subsidies for small-scale fishermen, is highly concerning. Research by the Indonesian Traditional Fishermen's Association (KNTI) in 2023 states that 60–70% of fishing operational costs are spent on fuel. The elimination of fuel subsidies will further increase fishermen's expenditures, while their current catches are erratic and declining. The removal of fisheries subsidies not only threatens the livelihoods of approximately 2.7 million small-scale fishermen but also directly expands labor inequality and economic vulnerability for fisherwomen.
Fisherwomen, who have historically played a role in processing catches, marketing fish, and managing household finances, will face a drop in family income. This condition has the potential to increase the double burden on women (not only domestic household work but also fulfilling family economic needs), whereas fisherwomen's working hours reach nearly 20 hours a day (KPPI Research, 2023). This ART tariff policy directly impacts fisherwomen and forces them to seek alternative, more vulnerable livelihoods, including unprotected informal work.
MADANI Berkelanjutan assesses that the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) between Indonesia and the United States has the potential to hinder sovereignty over the energy transition, trade, and the use of forests and land. With commitments to accelerate bioethanol blending up to E5 by 2028 and E10 by 2030, alongside opening access to bioethanol imports from the United States, Indonesia is driven to build a bioethanol industry aggressively within a very short timeframe despite limited domestic capacity. This target is not merely an energy matter but also a land-use issue. To achieve E10, Indonesia is estimated to require an additional hundreds of thousands of hectares of new sugarcane land, which is currently being directed through large-scale projects in Papua, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi. Without adequate policy safeguard instruments, this acceleration poses a high risk of triggering massive land expansion, escalating agrarian conflicts, and threatening the managed territories of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
Furthermore, MADANI notes that the more fundamental issue is that these provisions are not balanced with adequate environmental safeguards. The ART does not include sustainability criteria to ensure that bioethanol does not originate from the conversion of natural forests, peatlands, or high-carbon stock areas. Yet, Indonesia itself has set a FOLU Net Sink 2030 target that requires halting deforestation and permanently protecting forest ecosystems. When trade obligations drive bioenergy expansion without clear sustainability standards, a policy contradiction occurs: on one hand, the state commits to reducing emissions, while on the other hand, it opens spaces for the expansion of land-based commodities that potentially increase emissions and damage ecosystems.
Therefore, the Indonesian government needs to affirm that national climate commitments and the protection of forest ecosystems must hold a higher position compared to international trade obligations that carry implications of environmental destruction and the neglect of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Without this principle, the ART risks setting a precedent that the global trade agenda can dictate the direction of Indonesia's energy and land-use policies, with the environmental and social costs borne domestically.
The Koalisi Perempuan Indonesia untuk Keadilan dan Demokrasi (Indonesian Women's Coalition for Justice and Democracy) also asserts that the trade agreement between Indonesia and the United States is a political action devoid of principles of sovereignty and the public interest; in essence, it is an unethical form of a free and active foreign policy. The cooperation points or agreements that place a heavier burden on Indonesia's position clearly illustrate that this cooperation sacrifices the people.
The ART may be a prestigious action for the Indonesian government regime, creating an impression of raising prestige in the international community, but it fails to measure the adverse impacts that will burden the people. The Government's claim that the ART will revitalize the Indonesian economy is not aligned with the terms agreed upon in the signed agreement document. Thus, even without being fully implemented, this agreement clearly explains how the public and marginalized groups will face and bear the dangers of vulnerability to poverty that they already experience, even without undergoing this ART agreement.
The ART agreement, signed on February 19, 2026, constitutes a legal violation by the government Cq. the President of the Republic of Indonesia by approving and/or ratifying a reciprocal trade agreement (ART). Viewed from both the approval process and the substance of the agreement made/approved, it contradicts the 1945 Constitution, Law Number 37 of 1999 concerning Foreign Relations, MPR Decree Number IV/MPR/1973 which asserts that Indonesia's foreign policy must be conducted based on free and active principles, and the Constitutional Court Decision on the Judicial Review of Law No. 24 of 2000 concerning International Treaties.
The process did not conform to the constitutional mandate because when the President makes treaties with other nations, it must be with the approval of the DPR; furthermore, in making other international agreements that give rise to extensive and fundamental consequences for the lives of the people related to the state financial burden, and/or require changes or the formation of laws, it must be with the approval of the DPR. However, this ART trade agreement was conducted without involving (consultation and approval from) the DPR.
Our Demands:
From the issues outlined above, we demand:
The President of the Republic of Indonesia to cancel the US-Indonesia Reciprocal Trade Agreement or Agreements on Reciprocal Trade (ART), as it is constitutionally flawed due to being carried out without the consultation and approval of the House of Representatives, without meaningful engagement, pawning natural resources, and weakening national policies related to food and trade.
The DPR/MPR and the Constitutional Court to push for a constitutional review and the exercise of oversight rights, including the right of inquiry (hak angket), over the negotiation process, the signing of the ART, and the MoUs concerning strategic resources and the rights of indigenous peoples.
The Indonesian Government to integrate intersectionality and gender justice approaches into various foreign policies, including the global trade agenda and climate justice. International policies must be based on the interests of and alignment with the lives of women, grassroots communities, as well as environmental sustainability and the livelihoods of the people.
Contacts:
Kampanye Solidaritas Perempuan — 0812 8078 8634
MADANI Berkelanjutan — 0815 1986 8887
JATAM — 0852-1815-1157
Serikat Petani Indonesia – 0895 1836 5857
Koalisi Perempuan Indonesia – 081332929509
WALHI – 08115501980
