Antara News·Indonesia·Saturday, October 3, 2026 at 08:46 AM UTC

Indonesia, G20 reject food as weapon of geopolitical pressure

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Maria Cicilia Galuh Prayudhia, Yashinta Difa

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia and fellow G20 members rejected efforts to use food as a tool of geopolitical pressure, adopting a shared position at the G20 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.

“G20 Trade Ministers reject efforts to use food as an instrument of geopolitical pressure,” Trade Minister Budi Santoso said in an official statement issued in Jakarta on Saturday on the outcomes of the high-level meeting.

“Food is a matter of survival, and using it to exert pressure cannot be justified,” Budi emphasized.

According to the minister, Indonesia and other G20 members underscored that addressing complex international trade challenges — including excess capacity, forced labor practices, and World Trade Organization (WTO) Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) tariff provisions — requires collaboration and joint action while respecting each country’s distinct economic policies and principles.

Addressing global debates over excess production capacity, Budi emphasized the need to examine underlying market dynamics, including supply and demand balances, factory utilization rates, commercial behavior, and key drivers of production.

He stressed that evaluating industrial capacity must rely strictly on sector-specific evidence, acknowledging that individual economic sectors carry unique operational lifecycles, supply chain structures, technological scopes and market dynamics.

"Excess capacity assessments must rely on analytical, evidence-based findings rather than political labels," Budi noted.

Turning to multilateral trade rules, the G20 trade minister asserted that the WTO must uphold and strictly enforce the MFN principle across the global trading system to ensure predictability and non-discrimination in international trade.

Minister Budi pointed out that the MFN principle plays an irreplaceable role in streamlining tariff negotiations and preserving the certainty of negotiated market access commitments, warning that eroding the principle risks compromising Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) mechanisms designed for developing economies.

On human rights and labor standards, Santoso reaffirmed Indonesia’s commitment to eliminating forced labor as a fundamental part of protecting workers’ dignity and human rights.

However, he emphasized that labor protection initiatives must serve legitimate human rights objectives and must not be repurposed as geopolitical tools to pressure trading partners.

Indonesia highlighted its active measures to address forced labor, including ratifying nine of the 10 International Labour Organization (ILO) Fundamental Conventions and issuing Minister of Trade Regulation No. 9 of 2026, which prohibits the import of goods produced through forced labor.

Similar binding labor standards have been incorporated into Indonesia’s trade agreements with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union.

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