JAKARTA – The United States of America (USA) has principally agreed to exempt Indonesia’s palm oil, cocoa, and rubber from the reciprocal import tariff of 19%. The tariff exemption will be effective after the two countries reach a final agreement.
But so far, there has been no schedule set for the signing of the final agreement as the USA is still busy in negotiations of tariffs with other countries. “We’re waiting for their response, but basically during our meeting, the exemption has been agreed for products that could not be produced in USA, such as palm oil, cocoa, and rubber. The products’ tariff will be zero percent or approaching zero,” Economic Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto said on Wednesday (27/8/2025).
Indonesia is among the first countries that managed to secure tariff agreement with USA President Donald Trump.
But, the tariff imposed on Indonesia has been finally the same with that imposed on other countries, such as Thailand and Malaysia, and a bit lower than Vietnam that has been charged with tariff of 20%. During negotiations, Indonesia offered investments of billions of US dollar in the USA and purchase of crude oil, LPG, aircrafts, and agricultural products of USA.
Indonesia has also promised to impose tariff of zero percen for almost all of USA goods entering the Southeast Asian country. Airlangga is optimistic that the certainty of USA tariffs and the latest development in the negotiations on free trade with European Union (EU) will push up Indonesia’s economic growth, supporting the government in realizing the economic growth target of 5.4% in 2026.
Previously, Trade Minister (Mendag) Budi Santoso had targeted that the process of tariff negotiations with USA will be finalized before 01 September 2025. “And now negotiations are still proceeding. Hopefully, we can finalize it before 01 September,” Budi said during a press conference at the office building of Kemendag, Jakarta, on Monday (4/8/2025).
Budi said that during the negotiation process, the government wanted to get lower reciprocal tariff of import, especially for products that are not produced by USA. (*)
Sawitkita.id. AS Sepakat Sawit RI Dibebaskan dari Tarif 19%. https://sawitkita.id/as-sepakat-sawit-ri-dibebaskan-dari-tarif-19/.
