President Trump announced a “great deal” with Indonesia on tariffs and trade on July 15. The New York Times reported: “Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto confirmed the broad outlines of the deal for the first time on Wednesday, in brief remarks in Jakarta. Under the terms, U.S. exports to Indonesia would face no tariffs, while Indonesian goods would be charged a tariff of 19 percent in the United States.” Prabowo called Trump “quite a tough negotiator” and suggested that the country had hoped for lower tariffs, and would keep negotiating.
Indonesian Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartoto said in an interview in Washington last week, following meetings with U.S. officials, that Trump’s high tariffs threatened 300,000 jobs in Indonesia, including in industries such as apparel and shoes. Indonesian officials expressed surprise that Trump had announced the new tariffs, even though negotiations were ongoing.
