Indonesia has said it is ready to face the consequences of being part of the economic bloc
Indonesia will remain in BRICS even if US President Donald Trump fulfills his threat to slap extra tariffs on the group, Indonesian State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi has said.
Earlier this week, Trump warned that he would impose additional 10% duties on any country that “aligns itself” with BRICS, which he claimed, is adopting “anti-American policies.”
Prasetyo told journalists on Wednesday that Indonesia, which joined the bloc as a full member in early 2025, views the potential extra US tariffs “as part of the consequences of joining BRICS.”
“We will have to face it,” the state secretary said, as cited by the Jakarta Globe.
Indonesia and South Africa were the only two BRICS states among 14 countries that recently received letters from the US warning of harsh tariffs starting on August 1. According to Washington, Jakarta would be subject to a 32% rate. That will grow to 42% if Trump’s threat of extra duties on the bloc’s members is realized.
According to Prasetyo, the tariffs are not final. Indonesia has sent its economic minister to Washington in an attempt to negotiate better terms, he added.
In a declaration at the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend, member states Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russian Federation, South Africa, and UAE condemned “indiscriminate rising of tariffs,” saying it could reduce global trade and disrupt supply chains.
In another attack on BRICS on Tuesday, Trump accused the bloc of trying to “degenerate” and “destroy” the US dollar, promising that he is “not going to let that happen.” BRICS nations intensified efforts to reduce their reliance on third-party currencies in bilateral trade after the US and EU froze Russian assets, mostly held in dollars and euros, as part of sanctions against Moscow following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022.
BRICS leaders have stated they have no interest in undermining the dollar, and that the US currency can only be weakened by its politicization.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said previously that Moscow never made a decision to give up the dollar, but was actually banned from using it by Washington. According to the Russian leader, the push by countries to seek alternative means of payment, a result of Washington’s “weaponization” of its currency, cannot be reversed through more restrictive measures.
