WASHINGTON, DC —President Donald Trump revealed some details of his trade deal with Indonesia on Tuesday while speaking with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House.
According to the president, Indonesia has agreed to a 19 percent tariff on its imported goods into the United States, while the United States will not pay any tariffs in the Indonesian market and will have “full access” to it.
“I spoke to their really great president, very popular, very strong, smart, and we made the deal. We have full access to Indonesia, everything. As you know, Indonesia is very strong on copper, but we have full access to everything,” Trump said, also going on to highlight “valuable earths” in the country.
“We will pay no tariffs. So they are giving us access into Indonesia, which we never had. That’s probably the biggest part of the deal. And the other part is they are going to pay 19 percent, and we are going to pay nothing,” he added.
The deal comes after Trump sent a tariff letter to leaders of some two dozen countries last week, informing them what duties goods from their nations will face upon import into the U.S. In his letter to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Trump established a 32 percent tariff would take effect on imports separate from sectoral tariffs beginning August 1.
As he did in the letters to other nations, he noted that if Indonesia removed trade barriers, tariffs, and allowed the U.S. access to its market, then he would potentially consider modifying the 32 percent tariff set to take effect August 1. Leadership between the two nations evidently moved quickly to work out a deal after the president’s letter.
Trump stressed he believes “it’s a good deal for both parties” and noted he is working to negotiate market access in other nations such as India.
“And we have a couple of those deals that are going to be announced. India basically is working along that same line. We’re going to have access into India. And you have to understand, we had no access into any of these countries,” Trump emphasized.
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