US to impose 19% tariff on goods from Indonesia

The United States will impose a 19 percent tariff on goods from Indonesia under a new deal with the Asian country, US President Donald Trump said, Reuters reported.

New deals are also expected.

Letters setting tariff rates for dozens of smaller countries are also coming soon, Trump said yesterday.

The deal with Indonesia is one of the few reached by the Trump administration ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline when tariffs on most U.S. imports are set to rise again. The deal comes as the United States’ top trading partner, the European Union, prepares to respond if talks with Washington fail.

As the deadline approaches, talks have been held with other countries seeking to avoid raising U.S. tariffs above the 10 percent base rate on most goods that has been in place since April.

“Trump’s implementation of this policy has often been chaotic. His moves, which have reversed decades of agreed reductions in global trade barriers, will cause instability in international financial markets and threaten a new wave of inflation,” the publication notes.

Trump described the agreement with Indonesia as similar to the agreement recently concluded with Vietnam. The agreement provides for a fixed tariff on exports to the United States, about double the current 10%, and no tariffs on American exports to that country. The agreement also includes a penalty rate for so-called transit shipments of goods from China through Indonesia and a commitment to purchase some American goods.

Trump later said on his Truth Social platform that Indonesia had agreed to buy $15 billion in American energy products, $4.5 billion in American agricultural products and 50 Boeing aircraft.

Tags: USA, Indonesia