Indonesia wants a bilateral trade deal with the US. Trade between the countries was around $25 billion in 2016, the lowest since 2010. The US deficit in trade stood at more than $13 billion. The US wants Indonesia to further open up its $900 billion economy to businesses. The US is seeking to cut trade and investment barriers to create a truly level playing field. This forms the background to the collapse of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a sweeping, 12-nation trade-and-investment pact. Indonesia wasn’t one of the dozen nations but had expressed interest in joining the partnership at a future date.

Indonesia has been seeking to draw new foreign investment to help build railways and ports. US investors are among the biggest investors in Indonesia but face problems with rule of law and cumbersome policies such as local-content requirements. Indonesia’s priority is to boost economic growth. The rate has been hovering around five per cent due to global weakness and a mixed-investment climate. The target is to deliver seven per cent growth by the end of 2019. Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy. In dollar terms, foreign direct investment slipped in 2016. But Chinese investors have evinced interest.