MUHAMMADIYAH.OR.ID, YOGYAKARTA – Indonesia’s trade and investment ties remain strongly connected to both the United States and China, according to Faris Al-Fadhat, an international political economy expert from Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta.
Speaking at a seminar titled “Trumponomics and Its Impact on the Global Political Economy”, organized by the Center of International Security Studies (COISS) at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta on April 23, Faris highlighted the country’s ongoing reliance on both economic powers and predicted that China would likely overtake the U.S. as the world’s top trading nation within the next decade.
“The U.S. is not ready to hand over its top spot to China. These tariff policies are part of an effort to slow China’s economic rise by encouraging countries with strong ties to China to return to the U.S. economic sphere,” said Faris.
Faris explained that both nations are advancing their global influence through large-scale economic initiatives. The United States continues to back major financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Meanwhile, China is expanding its global economic reach through the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Despite the growing rivalry between the two, Faris emphasized that Indonesia needs to maintain strong relations with both.
“We are still economically dependent on the U.S. and China. China is our largest trading partner, with trade worth around 118 billion U.S. dollars. At the same time, the U.S. is the largest overall investor in Indonesia, with many American companies having operated here for over 70 years.”
“China leads in trade, and the U.S. leads in investment. Both are essential to Indonesia’s economy,” said Faris.
