La Via Campesina - 23 July 2025

US trade deals: peasant unions in Indonesia and India sound alarm, warn of erosion of food sovereignty

Small-scale farmers and peasant unions in both India and Indonesia have raised strong objections to their respective governments’ ongoing and recently concluded trade negotiations with the United States, citing threats to food sovereignty, domestic agricultural livelihoods, and rural economies. While India is in the middle of negotiating a trade agreement with the US, Indonesia has already entered into a deal that grants American agricultural goods duty-free access—moves that farmers say will lead to long-term dependency and harm.

In Indonesia, the peasant union Serikat Petani Indonesia (SPI) issued a statement criticizing the recent bilateral trade deal that eliminates tariffs on US agricultural imports, worth up to $4 billion. This waiver, SPI argues, will drastically increase imports of soybeans, wheat, dairy, beef, and cotton—commodities already dominated by US suppliers. For soybeans alone, 90% of Indonesia’s consumption already comes from the US. With the new agreement, agricultural imports are projected to surge by 55%, worsening Indonesia’s trade deficit and deepening dependence on foreign food supplies.

SPI warned that the trade agreement not only undermines the government’s stated goal of food self-sufficiency, as outlined in President Prabowo’s Asta Cita policy vision, but also contradicts Indonesia’s own national laws such as the Food Law No. 16/2012 and Peasant Protection Law No. 19/2013. It further breaches the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP), they said.

“Food is not just a commodity; it is a right and a sovereign matter. These trade concessions are paving the way for foreign agribusiness to dominate our food systems, sidelining local producers,” reads the statement.

The union also drew parallels with the EU-Indonesia trade negotiations, where intellectual property clauses reportedly push Indonesia to join UPOV-1991, a plant variety protection regime criticized for restricting farmers’ rights to exchange and develop local seeds.

Across the Indian Ocean, Indian farmers are voicing similar anxieties. On 15 July, the Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (ICCFM), a coalition representing farmers across 12 states, sent a detailed letter to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, opposing the India-US trade negotiations and urging the government not to sign even an interim Free Trade Agreement (FTA) involving agriculture.

The ICCFM warned that the inclusion of agriculture in any such deal would open India’s markets to heavily subsidized US agricultural products, which would destabilize local prices and devastate millions of small farmers.

The 2024 Farm Bill has a projected cost of $1.5 trillion and a large portion of it is directed toward farm programs and crop insurance—that benefits the large, wealthy farms in US that are part of the export chain1. These products come into export markets like India at artificially low prices, creating unfair competition for our farmers,” the letter noted.

Of particular concern is the dairy sector, which supports over 80 million Indian farmers. The State Bank of India recently warned that opening the dairy sector to US imports could cause an annual loss of ₹1.03 lakh crore, lead to a 15% drop in milk prices, and endanger the livelihoods of women and landless dairy farmers. The ICCFM further pointed to ethical and safety concerns, including the US practice of feeding livestock blood meal and genetically modified (GM) feed—unacceptable to many Indian consumers and producers.

The letter also highlighted sector-by-sector threats:

• Grains: Duty-free imports of maize, wheat, and rice could depress prices below Minimum Support Price (MSP) levels and flood markets with GM varieties.
• Edible Oils: India’s self-sufficiency in oilseeds has been undercut by successive duty reductions. Recent cuts from 20% to 10% benefit large importers while marginalizing domestic growers.
• Apples and Nuts: A steep rise in US imports after duty cuts threatens orchard farmers in the Himalayan belt.
• Cotton and Poultry: Surging US imports, often rerouted due to its trade war with China, are displacing Indian producers.
• Synthetic Rubber and Sugar: Similar trends threaten natural rubber producers and India’s sugar industry.

A recurring concern in both countries is the potential erosion of seed sovereignty through intellectual property clauses often embedded in US trade deals. The ICCFM cautioned against any concessions on farmers’ rights to save, reuse, and exchange seeds, saying such changes would trigger nationwide protests.

The ICCFM also criticized the hypocrisy of US positions at the WTO. “The US objects to India’s public procurement system while it shields its own farm subsidies with billions. The level playing field does not exist,” their statement said. OECD studies have shown Indian farmers receive negative support overall, while American producers are massively underwritten by state support and infrastructure.

The resistance to US-led trade liberalization from both Indian and Indonesian farmers is notable not only for its timing but also its misplaced priorities, as per the unions. While policymakers in both countries frame these deals as opportunities for economic integration, small-scale farmers view them as lopsided arrangements that benefit multinational agribusiness at the cost of local producers.