Trump sets 19% tariff on Indonesia goods in latest deal, EU readies retaliation | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
July 17, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2025
Trump sets 19% tariff on Indonesia goods in latest deal, EU readies retaliation

USA

Reuters
16 July, 2025, 09:45 am
Last modified: 16 July, 2025, 02:11 pm

Related News

  • Indonesia says US trade deal reached after 'extraordinary struggle'
  • Despite tariffs, it's still America first for Asia's legacy automakers
  • China's economy slows as consumers tighten belts, US tariff risks mount
  • South Korea says framework US trade deal possible by August, farm market access on table
  • China's exports pick up as Trump tariff deadline looms

Trump sets 19% tariff on Indonesia goods in latest deal, EU readies retaliation

Trump announced the pact with Indonesia, a relatively minor US trading partner, as he continued to press for what he views as better terms with trading partners and ways to shrink a huge US trade deficit

Reuters
16 July, 2025, 09:45 am
Last modified: 16 July, 2025, 02:11 pm
A drone view shows stacks of containers at the Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/File Photo
A drone view shows stacks of containers at the Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/File Photo

Highlights:

  • US had nearly $18 billion trade gap with Indonesia last year
  • Trump says tariff letters to smaller countries coming soon
  • European Commission targets $84 billion worth of US imports
  • EU seeking deal but preparing retaliation, trade chief says

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the US would impose a 19% tariff on goods from Indonesia under a new agreement with the Southeast Asian country and more deals were coming, while offering fresh details on planned duties on pharmaceuticals.

Trump announced the pact with Indonesia, a relatively minor US trading partner, as he continued to press for what he views as better terms with trading partners and ways to shrink a huge US trade deficit. Letters setting tariff rates for dozens of smaller countries were also coming soon, he said on Tuesday.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

The deal with Indonesia is among the handful struck so far by the Trump administration ahead of an August 1 deadline when duties on most US imports are due to rise again. The accord came as the top US trading partner - the European Union - readied retaliatory measures should talks with Washington fail.

As that deadline approached, negotiations were under way with other nations eager to avoid more US levies beyond a baseline 10% on most goods that has been in place since April.

Trump's roll-out of the policies has often been chaotic. His moves have upended decades of negotiated reductions in global trade barriers, unsettling international financial markets and threatening a new wave of inflation.

Based on Trump tariff announcements through Sunday, Yale Budget Lab estimated the US effective average tariff rates will rise to 20.6% from between 2% and 3% before Trump's return to the White House in January. Consumption shifts would bring the rate down to 19.7%, but it's still the highest since 1933.

Trump outlined an Indonesia deal similar to a preliminary pact struck recently with Vietnam, with a flat tariff on exports to the US roughly double the current 10% and no levies on US exports going there. It also included a penalty rate for so-called transhipments of goods from China via Indonesia and a commitment to buy some US goods.

"They are going to pay 19% and we are going to pay nothing ... we will have full access into Indonesia, and we have a couple of those deals that are going to be announced," Trump said outside the Oval Office. Trump later said on his Truth Social platform that Indonesia had agreed to buy $15 billion of US energy products, $4.5 billion of American farm products and 50 Boeing jets, though no time frame was specified.

He told reporters the deal with Vietnam was "pretty well set" but said it was not necessary to release details.

TRUMP: INDIA TALKS MOVING SAME WAY

Indonesia's total trade with the US - totalling just under $40 billion in 2024 - does not rank in the top 15, but it has been growing. US exports to Indonesia rose 3.7% last year, while imports from there were up 4.8%, leaving the US with a goods trade deficit of nearly $18 billion.

The top US import categories from Indonesia, according to US Census Bureau data from the International Trade Centre's TradeMap tool, last year were palm oil, electronics equipment including data routers and switches, footwear, car tires, natural rubber and frozen shrimp.

Susiwijono Moegiarso, a senior official with Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, told Reuters in a text message: "We are preparing a joint statement between US and Indonesia that will explain the size of reciprocal tariff for Indonesia including the tariff deal, non-tariff and commercial arrangements. We will inform (the public) soon."

Trump had threatened the country with a 32% tariff rate starting August 1 in a letter sent to its president last week. He sent similar letters to about two dozen trading partners this month, including Canada, Japan and Brazil, laying out tariff rates ranging from 20% to 50%, plus a 50% tariff on copper.

Speaking in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Trump said he favored blanket tariffs over complicated negotiations, but his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick were keen to land more trade agreements.

Upon his arrival back in Washington, Trump told reporters that letters would be going out soon for many smaller countries, suggesting they would face a tariff of "a little over 10%."

He said his administration would also announce tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the United States, probably at the end of the month, starting with what he called a low tariff rate to give companies time to move manufacturing to the US before imposing a "very high tariff" in a year or so.

The August 1 deadline gives targeted countries time to negotiate about lower tariff rates. Some economists have also noted Trump's pattern of backing off his tariff threats.

Since launching his tariff policy, Trump has clinched only a few "framework" agreements, falling short of earlier promises to land "90 deals in 90 days."

So far, such deals have been reached with the United Kingdom and Vietnam, and an interim deal has been struck with China to forestall the steepest of Trump's tariffs while negotiations continue between Washington and Beijing.

Trump said talks with India were moving "along that same line," saying the agreement would give US firms access to the large Indian market.

EU READIES RETALIATION

The breakthrough with Indonesia came as the European Commission, which oversees trade for the EU, prepared to target 72 billion euros ($84.1 billion) worth of US goods - from Boeing aircraft and bourbon whiskey to cars - for possible tariffs if trade talks with Washington fail.

Trump has threatened a 30% tariff on imports from the EU from August 1, a level European officials say is unacceptable and would end normal trade between two of the world's largest markets.

The list, sent to EU member states and seen by Reuters on Tuesday, pre-dated Trump's move over the weekend to ramp up pressure on the 27-nation bloc and responded instead to US duties on cars and car parts and a 10% baseline tariff.

The package also covers chemicals, medical devices, electrical and precision equipment as well as agriculture and food products - a range of fruits and vegetables, along with wine, beer and spirits - valued at 6.35 billion euros.

Top News / World+Biz / Global Economy

Trump Tariffs / Indonesia

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Illustration: TBS
    FY26 monetary policy: To ease when is the question
  • National Citizen Party (NCP) Convenor Nahid Islam speaks at a press conference in Khulna on 16 July 2025. Photo: TBS
    Gopalganj attack: Nahid demands arrest of culprits within 24 hours
  • Fake news is being spread by Pro- Awami League persons. Collage: BSS
    Pro-AL figures circulate false narratives over Gopalganj clashes: CA press wing

MOST VIEWED

  • 131 foreigners were denied entry into Malaysia by their border control. Photo: The Star
    96 Bangladeshis denied entry at Kuala Lumpur airport
  • Double-decker school buses are lined up in a field in Chattogram city. The district administration has proposed modernising the buses to ensure security and convenience for school students. Photo: TBS
    Country's first smart school bus in Ctg faces shutdown amid funding crisis
  • A file photo of people boarding the government-run Betna Express at a railway station. The train operates on the Benapole-Khulna-Mongla route via Jashore. Photo: TBS
    Despite profitability, Betna Express rail service handed over to pvt sector
  • Bangladesh Bank buys $313m more in second dollar auction in three days
    Bangladesh Bank buys $313m more in second dollar auction in three days
  • Representational image. File Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS
    Malaysia grants Bangladeshi workers multiple-entry visas
  • People enter and loot Ganobhaban, the Prime Minister’s residence, following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 5, 2024. Photo: TBS
    Govt to spend Tk111cr to turn Ganabhaban into July Mass Uprising Memorial Museum

Related News

  • Indonesia says US trade deal reached after 'extraordinary struggle'
  • Despite tariffs, it's still America first for Asia's legacy automakers
  • China's economy slows as consumers tighten belts, US tariff risks mount
  • South Korea says framework US trade deal possible by August, farm market access on table
  • China's exports pick up as Trump tariff deadline looms

Features

Abu Sayeed spread his hands as police fired rubber bullets, leading to his tragic death. Photos: Collected

How Abu Sayed’s wings of freedom ignited the fire of July uprising

1d | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

Open source legal advice: How Facebook groups are empowering victims of land disputes

2d | Panorama
DU students at TSC around 12:45am on 15 July 2024, protesting Sheikh Hasina’s insulting remark. Photo: TBS

‘Razakar’: The butterfly effect of a word

2d | Panorama
Photo: Collected

Grooming gadgets: Where sleek tools meet effortless styles

3d | Brands

More Videos from TBS

NCP leaders safely in Khulna from Gopalganj.

NCP leaders safely in Khulna from Gopalganj.

9h | TBS Today
July 16 returns with sadness and pain

July 16 returns with sadness and pain

9h | TBS Today
China's economy not hit by Trump's tariff war

China's economy not hit by Trump's tariff war

10h | Others
News of The Day, 16 JULY 2025

News of The Day, 16 JULY 2025

12h | TBS News of the day
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net