Indonesia expects to complete tariff negotiations with US by year-end: official

[JAKARTA] Indonesia expects to complete tariff talks with the United States by the end of this year, its chief negotiator said on Friday (Dec 12), with a delegation set to visit Washington next week to resume them.

Talks had appeared at risk of collapse this week after the US accused Jakarta of backtracking on prior commitments, although Indonesia said that their “dynamics” were normal, and it was just a matter of “harmonising the language”.

The timeline for conclusion of talks followed a video call on Thursday between senior economic minister Airlangga Hartarto and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the tariffs.

“We agree to complete what has been agreed upon in the leaders’ declaration on July 22,” Airlangga told an economic forum, adding that a non-disclosure pact kept him from giving details.

Asked if the US had sought inclusion of a requirement for Indonesia to inform it of future trade deals with other countries, he replied: “It is an agreement that is not with Indonesia.” It was not immediately clear if Indonesia was open to such a clause, however.

Such a provision in the US deal struck with Malaysia allows the US to end the pact and restore the tariff US President Donald Trump announced in April, if new deals endanger key US interests and talks fail to resolve its concerns.

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Cambodia also has a similar clause in its US deal agreed in October, with some difference in the wording.

A US tariff deal is key to ensure South-east Asia’s largest economy can keep up its exports, particularly in textiles, footwear and palm oil.

The US imposed a tariff of 19 per cent on Indonesian products, down from 32 per cent earlier, after Jakarta agreed to scrap tariffs on more than 99 per cent of US goods and drop all non-tariff barriers to its firms. REUTERS