Indonesian officials have told US trade representative Jamieson Greer that Jakarta cannot agree to some binding commitments and wants to reframe them. — Reuters
WASHINGTON: A US trade agreement reached with Indonesia in July is at risk of collapsing because Jakarta has backtracked on several commitments it made as part of the deal, a US official says.
“They’re reneging on what we agreed to in July,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, giving no details about which specific commitments Indonesia was now questioning.
The two countries in July said Indonesia agreed to eliminate tariffs on more than 99% of US goods and scrap all non-tariff barriers facing American firms, while the United States will drop threatened tariffs on Indonesian products to 19% from 32%.
US President Donald Trump first announced the deal on July 15, calling it “a huge win for our automakers, tech companies, workers, farmers, ranchers and manufacturers”.
But Indonesian officials have told US trade representative Jamieson Greer that Jakarta cannot agree to some binding commitments and wants to reframe them, the official said.
US officials believe that would lead to worse agreements for the United States than recent deals it has struck with two other South-East Asian countries, Malaysia and Cambodia, the official said, confirming details first reported earlier by the Financial Times (FT).
The FT reported US officials believe Indonesia is “backsliding” on the elimination of non-tariff barriers on industrial and agricultural exports from the United States. — Reuters
