Trump says Indonesia trade deal features 19% tariff; Jakarta confirms call with U.S. president

by · CNBC

Key Points

  • President Donald Trump said he has reached a deal with Indonesia, a week after he threatened to slap a 32% tariff on the Southeast Asian country's U.S. exports.
  • The U.S. will impose a 19% tariff on Indonesian goods as part of the deal, Trump said.
  • Indonesia is one of the United States' top 25 trade partners, with the two countries trading more than $38 billion in goods in 2024, according to the Commerce Department.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he reached a preliminary trade deal with Indonesia that will set a 19% tariff on the Southeast Asian country's U.S. exports.

"We will pay no tariffs. So they are giving us access into Indonesia, which we never had," Trump told reporters outside the White House.

"That's probably the biggest part of the deal. And the other part is they are going to pay 19%," he said.

In an Instagram post early Wednesday, Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto said he had a "very good call" with Trump.

"We agreed and concluded to take trade relations between Indonesia and the United States into a new era of mutual benefit between our two great nations."

However, Prabowo did not confirm the details of the trade deal or the tariff rate.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said Indonesia "has committed to purchasing $15 Billion Dollars in U.S. Energy, $4.5 Billion Dollars in American Agricultural Products, and 50 Boeing Jets, many of them 777's" as part of the deal.

Indonesian airline Garuda was recently in talks to buy between 50 and 75 Boeing aircraft, its CEO reportedly said in early July.

The new tariff rate on Indonesian imports would show Trump pulling back on the 32% duty he had threatened to impose as recently as last week.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested on CNBC's "Halftime Report" on Tuesday afternoon that Indonesia would drop its tariffs on U.S. goods as part of the agreement.

"No tariffs there. They pay tariffs here," Lutnick said.

The White House did not respond to CNBC's requests for additional information about the purported deal with Indonesia.

Indonesia is one of the United States' top 25 trade partners, with the two countries trading more than $38 billion in goods in 2024, according to the Commerce Department. The U.S. trade deficit with Indonesia totaled $17.9 billion last year.

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Trump's post on Indonesia closely resembles his July 2 announcement that the U.S. reached a trade deal with Vietnam.

Trump's initial message about Vietnam was also short on details, though he declared in a follow-up post that the terms included a 20% tariff on Vietnamese imports.

Vietnamese officials were reportedly surprised about Trump's description of their preliminary deal with the U.S. As of July 10, the Vietnamese government still has not formally accepted part of the deal Trump touted, Politico reported.

The U.S. has also made a preliminary trade deal with the United Kingdom, and it has reached another agreement with China that allowed both sides to lower the sky-high tariffs on each others' goods.

But Trump has recently eschewed the traditional trade negotiation process, opting instead to send letters to U.S. trade partners that dictate what their new U.S. tariff rate will be starting on Aug. 1.