Government Confident in Maintaining Zero-Per-Cent Tariff to the United States
Jakarta — The Senior Policy Expert of Indonesia’s Government Communications Authority (Bakom RI), Fithra Faisal Hastiadi, stated that the government is confident in maintaining zero-per-cent tariffs for several of Indonesia’s flagship products to the United States market, amid evolving trade policy dynamics in that country.
“The government remains sufficiently confident that it can maintain the zero-per-cent tariff,” he said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Fithra explained that the zero-per-cent tariff provision is regulated through an executive order, which differs from the previous reciprocal tariff agreement scheme. The government, he said, remains reasonably optimistic about maintaining that tariff.
It is known that US tariff policy underwent changes after the country’s Supreme Court invalidated the legal basis that US President Donald Trump had used in implementing trade tariffs.
This situation prompted several policy adjustments that affected trading partners, including Indonesia.
Nevertheless, Fithra assessed that Indonesia’s position remains relatively secure because it had conducted negotiations earlier and maintained intensive communication with the US government.
“So with this situation, it is more advantageous that we negotiated earlier. Why? We are already more certain,” he said.
Previously, the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto stated that Indonesia requested that the zero-per-cent reciprocal tariff granted by the United States remain unchanged, even though the US Government imposed new tariffs on all countries.
Airlangga said the government had coordinated with the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). As a result, the US side communicated that there would be a cabinet decision regarding countries that had signed agreements.
“Alhamdulillah [praise be to God], Indonesia signed an agreement yesterday, and what Indonesia requested is that whilst others all face 10 per cent, those given zero per cent we request to remain so,” Airlangga said in Washington DC, United States, on Saturday (21 February) local time.
According to Airlangga, some of the zero-per-cent tariff facilities for agricultural products have been regulated in a separate executive order and thus are not included in the cancelled provisions. These commodities include coffee, cocoa, and various other agricultural products.
Beyond the agricultural sector, Indonesia also requested that the zero-per-cent tariff continue to apply to products related to electronics supply chains, crude palm oil (CPO), textiles, and footwear. However, certainty regarding these matters remains pending for up to 60 days from the agreement’s signing.