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How is Indonesia reinforcing its textile strategy?

The alarm bells have started ringing after industry representatives warned that the tariff disadvantage could quickly make Indonesian garments uncompetitive on American shelves, pushing prices well above those of some of the rival countries in Southeast Asia. In a business where buyers are notoriously price-sensitive and margins are thin, even a few percentage points can determine whether orders stay or shift and a ** per cent tariff, manufacturers fear, could accelerate a loss of market share and trigger painful adjustments at home, from production cuts to job losses.

Faced with this stark reality, Jakarta appears determined not to let its textile industry unravel. Instead of treating the tariffs as a fatal setback, the government seems to be moving to turn the pressure into a catalyst for long-overdue reforms, if recent media reports are something to go by after President Prabowo Subianto has stepped in directly, convening a high-level meeting of ministers recently to hammer out plans for a broader national industrial transformation, with textiles and garments firmly in the spotlight alongside future-facing sectors such as automotive and semiconductor manufacturing.