Here's the output of "show route" on the other device:
root@umcn> show route
inet.0: 6 destinations, 6 routes (6 active, 0 holddown, 0 hidden)
+ = Active Route, - = Last Active, * = Both
0.0.0.0/0 *[Static/5] 3w1d 02:21:27
> to 131.174.196.1 via fe-0/0/0.0
131.174.196.0/24 *[Direct/0] 3w1d 22:35:44
> via fe-0/0/0.0
131.174.196.75/32 *[Local/0] 3w1d 22:35:44
Local via fe-0/0/0.0
172.16.0.0/24 *[Direct/0] 6d 23:27:36
> via vlan.0
172.16.0.1/32 *[Local/0] 6d 23:27:36
Local via vlan.0
172.16.1.0/24 *[Static/5] 1w0d 00:29:28
> via st0.0
When I send some traffic over I'll see sessions created on both devices:
root@umcn> show security flow session protocol icmp
Session ID: 16409, Policy name: self-traffic-policy/1, Timeout: 60, Valid
In: 172.16.0.1/1 --> 172.16.1.2/7644;icmp, If: .local..0, Pkts: 1, Bytes: 84
Out: 172.16.1.2/7644 --> 172.16.0.1/1;icmp, If: st0.0, Pkts: 0, Bytes: 0
Session ID: 16488, Policy name: self-traffic-policy/1, Timeout: 58, Valid
In: 172.16.0.1/0 --> 172.16.1.2/7644;icmp, If: .local..0, Pkts: 1, Bytes: 84
Out: 172.16.1.2/7644 --> 172.16.0.1/0;icmp, If: st0.0, Pkts: 0, Bytes: 0
Total sessions: 2
On the other side:
Session ID: 10193, Policy name: vpn-to-trust/10, Timeout: 54, Valid
In: 172.16.0.1/0 --> 172.16.1.2/7644;icmp, If: st0.0, Pkts: 1, Bytes: 84
Out: 172.16.1.2/7644 --> 172.16.0.1/0;icmp, If: vlan.0, Pkts: 0, Bytes: 0
Session ID: 10160, Policy name: vpn-to-trust/10, Timeout: 54, Valid
In: 172.16.0.1/1 --> 172.16.1.2/7644;icmp, If: st0.0, Pkts: 1, Bytes: 84
Out: 172.16.1.2/7644 --> 172.16.0.1/1;icmp, If: vlan.0, Pkts: 0, Bytes: 0
I did just find out though that I can communicate from the 172.16.1.1 SRX to a host behind the 172.16.0.0/24 srx. I do see the sessions for those. However for example when I try to ping from a host behind the 172.16.1.0 network I don't even see the session on the connected srx.
This led me to looking at that host and saw a route going to the srx via the interface. I changed this to the srx IP and suddenly it worked. So it turns out to not have been an SRX issue at all stupidly enough.