Trade Between Indonesia and Latin America: Integration by De Jure

Indonesia has formed de jure trade integration with Latin America, although exports to the region are relatively low and political will to integrate is still minimal. In addition, the low interest of Indonesian entrepreneurs in trade with Latin America further shows the lack of integration opportunities. In fact, ideally trade integration occurs after intense trade relations. This fact raises the research question: Why did Indonesia immediately form de jure trade integration with Latin America? In order to answer this question, this research used a qualitative method with descriptive analysis. Data were collected through interviews and literature studies, then it was analyzed by using an illustrative method. Moreover, this research used the concept introduced by Gamso and Postnikov (2021) regarding South-South Country Form Trade Integration which is encouraged by 2 matters. First, competition pressure to compete with fellow southern countries. Second, policy learning that the experience of trade integration with traditional partners is used as a reference in order to form something similar to fellow southern countries. This research shows that Indonesia formed de jure trade integration with Latin America because of policy learning. Experience in forming trade integration with traditional partners makes Indonesia accustomed to certain standards and negotiation patterns. A similar approach is applied to Latin America with an agreement format which has proven effective, accelerating and deepening trade integration. In the context of competition pressure, this step is not to compete with Latin America, but rather to maintain the consistency of trade integration as with traditional partners.