Minister of Trade Budi Santoso has set a target to finalize negotiations on the reciprocal tariff policy imposed by the United States this month.  

The reciprocal tariff is a policy announced by US President Donald Trump in April. Indonesia currently faces a tariff rate of 19%. Next week, the Indonesian government will resume negotiations with the US. 

“The target is the middle of this month, November,” said Budi when met at the CEO Insight event at Hutan Kota Plataran, Jakarta, on Tuesday, November 4. 

Budi acknowledged that the completion of the Indonesia-US tariff negotiations has taken longer compared to neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Cambodia. “It’s quite tough, but hopefully, our outcome will be better,” he said. The Indonesian government assured that the final decision would be mutually beneficial.  

One pending issue concerns Indonesia’s request for a 0% tariff exemption on commodities not produced in the US but exported to the country. 

0% Copper Tariff 

Minister of Investment and Downstreaming or Head of the Investment Coordinating Board, Rosan Roeslani, previously stated that Indonesia had obtained a reciprocal tariff exemption from the US for copper commodities. 

“There are several goods or commodities not produced by the US whose tariffs can be reduced (from 19%). Fortunately, for copper, the US has approved a 0% tariff,” he said on Wednesday, August 6.  

In addition to copper, the government is also seeking tariff reductions for several other commodities such as nickel. He mentioned there were positive signals that the request for tariff reductions on nickel and other products would also be approved. 

“It may not be 0%, but it will be far below 19%. That’s a positive development I’d like to share,” he said. 

This article is published in partnership with Katadata 

Original article here