As A Result Of The US Government's Shutdown, Trump's Tariff Negotiations Have Been Temporarily Suspended
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto revealed that the trade tariff negotiation process between Indonesia and the United States (US) was temporarily suspended.
According to him, this was caused by an ongoing shutdown in the US administration, which caused most administrative activities to stall.
"So the negotiating team negotiated via zoom, but with the shutdown in America we were also hit by a shutdown. This means that negotiations have temporarily stalled," said Airlangga at Le Meridien Jakarta, Tuesday, October 7.
He explained that he would discuss with the United States Trade Representative (USTR), but the exact time could not be determined due to internal conditions in the US.
"But I will also talk tonight with USTR about how to take the next step. So regarding the schedule, it is not certain because the US government is currently closing down. So we are monitoring the progress," he explained.
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Airlangga stated that the 19 percent tariff reduction agreement against a number of Indonesian export products, including palm oil, had become part of the ongoing discussions. However, currently, the agreement document is still in the legal refinement stage.
"(Our exemption tariff) already exists, but now the problem is that all of the problems are legal scrubbing, so details. This will be more detailed than what was announced openly a few ago," he explained.
For information, the shutdown of the US government has occurred since October 1 due to the failure of Congress to reach a budget agreement. This situation caused non-essential public services to stop operating, while thousands of federal government employees were forced to be laid off without pay.