Jakarta’s tariff dilemma

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In focus

For this edition, we cover:

• Trump’s trade war has Jakarta second-guessing its iPhone ban playbook
• What Globe Telecom’s new CEO has to say about GCash’s IPO plans
• Malaysia’s Zus Coffee to open 200 stores in SEA

Hello reader,

My friends and I are at the age where we only upgrade phones every five years. So when Indonesia banned the iPhone 16, panic set in, especially among those of us who use the iPhone 11.

The different parts of the newest iPhone model are fully imported, which triggered the ban based on a local component rule.

But it wasn’t just customers feeling the heat. You can bet foreign companies were watching closely, wondering if they might be affected next.

Trump’s tariffs on Indonesia have thrown the ban back into the spotlight, especially after a top Indonesian minister flew to Washington for talks.

In today’s Big Story, some experts say Indonesia’s local component rule could be on the negotiating table to help ease tariffs.

But the country is walking a tightrope here. That policy exists to protect domestic industries, and as I spoke about in this video, protecting local businesses is something that Indonesia sorely needs.

The blowback from Trump tariffs are also felt practically everywhere else – including in the Philippines. Our Spotlight features insights from Globe Telecom’s new CEO, whose fintech firm GCash is seeing its IPO plans stall amid the volatile economy.

Putra

The Big Story

Trump tariffs push Indonesia to rethink local component rules

Photo credit: Tim Cook’s X page

Spotlight

Candid lessons from the people who’ve scaled – and those who help others do it

Quick Bytes