Mining companies court US investments

Trade relations: Crane operators unload a container from a truck at the International Container Terminal at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta. The government is being asked to reduce complicated bureaucracy to improve the attractiveness of investment. — AP

JAKARTA: Mining state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are looking at partnerships with United States firms, which they hope could help Indonesia navigate US tariff policies, while seeking the investments needed to build downstream projects in the archipelago.

State mining holding company MIND ID said it would offer an electric vehicle (EV) battery project, dubbed the Indonesia iGrand Package, to US investors after South Korea’s LG Energy Solution, one of the early backers of the project, decided to exit the venture.