Mensesneg: Opportunity for US Tariff Deal to Fall is Still Open

Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg) Prasetyo Hadi ANTARA/ (Muhammad Baqir Idrus Alatas)

JAKARTA - The Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg) Prasetyo Hadi said that until now there has been no official change regarding the agreement on the amount of tariffs with the United States.

He said there was no exact figure for the target of reducing reciprocal tariffs with the United States. According to Prasetyo, the opportunity is still open, especially through communication between Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and US President Donald Trump.

"We only look at other countries. If someone can go down, 18 (percent) yes. Maybe we want to go down to 18. But it's not us who determine this, but part of the effort to negotiate, we will continue to do it," said Prasetyo as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, February 18.

Mensesneg said that until now there has been no change in the amount of tariff set for Indonesia, which is 19 percent.

Regarding the possibility of a new offer from Indonesia to push for lower tariffs, he said the points that had been raised were basically part of the initial discussion.

Even so, the dynamics can still develop in the direct communication of the two leaders.

"Even if we want there to be another decline, yes, we leave it to these two leaders, perhaps later in the communication process. It is not impossible, because the good relationship between these two leaders may change our policy, we do not know," he added.

As is known, President Prabowo Subianto made a working visit to the United States to attend three agendas.

The first agenda is a meeting with a group of American businessmen on Wednesday (18/2), then the first high-level conference (summit) of the Gaza Peace Council (BoP) on Thursday (19/2).

Furthermore, President Prabowo will hold a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump, one of which is to sign a reciprocal trade agreement (agreement on reciprocal trade/ART), which has been under negotiation since 2025.

In this agreement, Indonesia is committed to opening market access for United States products, overcoming various non-tariff barriers, strengthening cooperation in the fields of digital trade and technology, national security, and other commercial cooperation.

The United States is committed to providing tariff exemptions for a number of Indonesian export products that are not produced in the US, including palm oil, cocoa, coffee, tea, and other strategic commodities.