Indonesia's chief economic minister, Airlangga Hartarto, said on Nov. 5 that Jakarta aims to sign its comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the European Union on Nov. 21, Antara reported. The pact would liberalize about 98% of tariff lines, covering 99.5% of the value of bilateral imports. It has already missed one signing target, in late October, as Capital Times reported.

Both sides should hold to the new date and then move the text through their legislatures as fast as their rules allow. Indonesia's preferences under the EU's Generalised System of Preferences expire on Jan. 1, 2027, according to Antara. Every month between that date and the pact's entry into force is a month in which Indonesian textiles, footwear and rubber goods compete in Europe on worse terms than before.

What Is at Stake for Indonesia and the EU

The commercial case is plain. Two-way trade was about $30.1 billion in 2024, and Jakarta expects exports to the EU to rise 60% once the agreement is in force, Arab News reported when talks concluded in Bali in September 2025. Indonesian goods would enter about 90% of the EU market duty-free at the start, with further cuts in stages. In return, Indonesia would cut or remove tariffs on European wood pulp, aircraft components, railway equipment and fertilizers, Antara said.

The timing matters beyond Brussels. Washington's tariffs of 19% on Indonesian goods fall hardest on labor-intensive sectors such as garments, Arab News said, and the EU offers the obvious place to diversify. A delay would only push that diversification further off.

Ratification will not be quick in any case. The text needs approval from the European Parliament and, under Indonesian law, a parliamentary statute; the Brussels think tank ECIPE warned last year that the Indonesian side could take three years or more. That is all the more reason to start the clock on Nov. 21 rather than later.

The Strongest Objection: Deforestation Rules and Nickel

The most serious argument against rushing comes from Jakarta itself. Indonesia regards the EU Deforestation Regulation, which requires importers to prove that commodities such as palm oil did not come from recently cleared land, as its main grievance. Airlangga once called the rules "regulatory imperialism," BusinessWorld reported in 2023, and said the EU was building walls while talking about trade facilitation. He estimated then that about 6 billion euros of Indonesia's annual exports would be affected. Smallholders control more than 42% of Indonesia's palm oil plantations and may struggle with the traceability requirements, Deutsche Welle reported. On this view, tariff cuts mean little if non-tariff barriers rise at the same time, and Jakarta should hold out for firmer guarantees.

That concern is real, but walking away or stalling would not solve it. The deforestation rules apply whether or not there is a trade agreement. The pact at least gives Indonesia zero tariffs on palm oil and, as a European Commission spokesperson said at the time, according to BusinessWorld, a formal platform for cooperation on deforestation. Indonesia has also won its World Trade Organization cases on the EU's renewable energy rules for palm oil and on biodiesel duties, and the EU reportedly intends to comply, according to ECIPE. A signed treaty gives Jakarta a standing forum to press those gains; an unsigned one gives it none.

Europe has its own doubts, chiefly about nickel. A WTO panel found in 2022 that Indonesia's nickel ore export ban breached trade rules, and Jakarta appealed the ruling "into the void," ECIPE noted, leaving it unenforceable. Critics in Brussels can fairly ask whether a partner that has ignored one adverse ruling will honor a bilateral deal. The answer is to write and enforce clear commitments, not to deny Europe's industry a partner that holds some of the world's largest deposits of nickel, cobalt and bauxite.

What Both Sides Should Do Next

Brussels should table the text for the European Parliament promptly after signing and give smallholder traceability support a concrete budget and timetable under the cooperation platform. Jakarta should put the ratification bill before the House of Representatives early and state publicly how it will treat raw material export rules under the agreement, which would answer the nickel question before it festers.

Neither side gets everything it wants from this deal. Each gets more than it would from another missed deadline. The first test is Nov. 21; the second is whether European and Indonesian lawmakers can act before the GSP preferences run out on Jan. 1.