WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had struck a trade pact with Indonesia resulting in a lower US tariff on the country’s goods than earlier threatened, alongside better market access.
“Great deal, for everybody, just made with Indonesia,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, saying that he worked with the country’s president directly.
He later told reporters that Indonesia was “giving us access” and that goods from the Southeast Asian country would face a 19 percent tariff.
Trump did not elaborate on the improved access that he had touted, although he stressed that Indonesia is “very strong on copper” and other materials.
The Trump administration has been under pressure to finalize trade pacts after promising a flurry of deals, as countries sought negotiations with Washington to avoid Trump’s tariff threats.
But the US president has so far only unveiled deals with Britain and Vietnam, alongside an agreement to temporarily lower tit-for-tat levies with China.
EU and Indonesia announce ‘political agreement’ on trade deal
Last week, Trump renewed his threat of a 32 percent levy on Indonesian goods, saying in a letter to the country’s leadership that this level would take effect August 1.
It remains unclear when the lower tariff level announced Tuesday will take effect for Indonesia.
“We have a couple of those deals that are going to be announced. India basically is working along that same line,” Trump told reporters Tuesday, referring to market access.
Indonesia’s former vice minister for foreign affairs Dino Patti Djalal told a Foreign Policy event Tuesday that government insiders had indicated they were happy with the new deal.
Tariffs drive
Trump in April imposed a 10 percent tariff on almost all trading partners, while announcing plans to eventually hike this level for dozens of economies, including the European Union and Indonesia.
But days before the steeper duties were due to take effect, he pushed the deadline back from July 9 to August 1. This marked his second postponement of the elevated levies.
Instead, since early last week, Trump has been sending letters to partners, setting out the tariff levels they would face come August.
To date, Trump has sent more than 20 such letters including to the EU, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.
Canada and Mexico, both countries that were not originally targeted in Trump’s “reciprocal” tariff push in April, also received similar documents outlining updated tariffs for their products.
But existing exemptions covering goods entering the United States under a North American trade pact are expected to remain in place, a US official earlier said.
Trump has unveiled blanket tariffs on trading partners in part to address what his administration deems as unfair practices that hurt American businesses.
Analysts have warned that without trade agreements, Americans could conclude that Trump’s strategy to reshape US trading ties with the world has not worked.
“In the public’s mind, the tariffs are the pain, and the agreements will be the gain. If there are no agreements, people will conclude his strategy was flawed,” William Reinsch, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told AFP.
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