Washington
CNN
—
President Donald Trump said Tuesday the United States has reached a trade agreement with Indonesia after speaking with the country’s President Prabowo Subianto.
The only detail Trump revealed about the agreement hours after announcing it on Truth Social was that it calls for Indonesia to not charge any tariffs on American exports, while the US will impose a 19% tariff on Indonesian exports.
The president also said Indonesia is “known for high-quality copper, which we’ll be using.” That may mean that copper from the country could face lower tariffs, or no tariffs, if Trump proceeds with his threat to levy a 50% tax across all copper imports on August 1.
While Indonesia shipped $20 million worth of copper to the US last year, according to US Commerce Department data, that’s far behind top suppliers Chile and Canada, which sent $6 billion and $4 billion worth of the metal to the US last year.
“No tariffs there; they pay tariffs here. Switching the asymmetry our way,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a CNBC interview on Tuesday.
Trump said India is “working along the same line” with regard to securing a trade agreement.
In April, Trump briefly imposed a 32% tariff on goods from the country before pausing so-called “reciprocal” tariffs. Countries that were due to face those tariffs have been charged a minimum 10% tariff for the past three months. That’s due to end on August 1.
“Great deal, for everybody, just made with Indonesia. I dealt directly with with their highly respected President,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Tuesday morning. “DETAILS TO FOLLOW!!!”
This marks Trump’s fourth trade agreement announcement in three months. He had previously promised dozens of deals with US trading partners over that time frame, but that has proven tough to reach.
One of the four agreements he previously announced was with Vietnam earlier this month, similarly posting on Truth Social. But the administration has yet to announce any more information on that agreement.
Trump’s volatile trade policy has paralyzed many businesses. Some fear that new orders they place for products manufactured overseas could be tariffed at dramatically higher rates given Trump can — at the flick of a switch — change rates charged on a country’s exports.
Trump has said companies can avoid such headaches by moving production to the United States. But it’s not so simple in practice: Businesses may not only encounter difficulty finding the right workers, but it could take years — and many millions of dollars — before manufacturing facilities are up and running. Then, once production is moved to the US, costs could increase, leading to higher prices for American consumers.
Representatives from the Indonesian government did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Indonesia is America’s 23rd top trading partner, US Commerce Department data from last year shows. The United States imported $28 billion worth of merchandise from there last year. Apparel and footwear were the top two goods Americans bought.
Meanwhile, the US exported $10 billion worth of goods there last year. Oilseeds and grain as well as oil and gas were the top two exports.
