The RI-US Trade Agreement Is Assessed To Strengthen Business Certainty

Illustration: Photo: Doc. ANTARA

JAKARTA - The government assesses that the trade agreement between Indonesia and the United States (US) will provide certainty for the business world and encourage the growth of the manufacturing sector in Indonesia.

Secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Susiwijono Moegiarso said that with clarity on trade rates, business actors can now immediately carry out export and import agreement activities more optimally and can run on schedule.

He gave an example that currently various products such as clothing, jackets, and women's clothes have begun to be produced to meet the spring demand in the second quarter of 2026.

"The best thing was actually yesterday President Prabowo had agreed with Trump yesterday, it gave certainty (to the business world)," he told the media crew, Friday, July 18.

Susiwijono said industrial growth was not only influenced by import duty rates but also in terms of certainty of business tariffs.

He gave an example when Vietnam had announced import rates with the US, while Indonesia had not announced it, entrepreneurs would prefer production in Vietnam, with the current announcement, the potential for attracting investors and contracts to be open in Indonesia.

"If we haven't announced it yesterday, meanwhile, I'm sorry, for example, Vietnam's competitors, he has already got 20 percent. They dare to contract with Vietnam, we don't dare. We don't know for sure yet. Now with a 19 percent tariff they have a contract," he explained.

Susiwijono said that the free trade scheme was also implemented in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), and ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) agreement.

He added that with ASEAN countries through the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, more than 99 percent of products had been subject to a 0 percent tariff.

Susiwijono explained that the tariff imposed by the US 19 percent to Indonesia cannot be compared directly to the 0 percent tariff from other countries.

According to him, the tariff scheme imposed by the United States on Indonesia is actually still lower than other countries which caused a trade deficit for the US.

"Compared to all countries that have a deficit impact on America, we are the lowest. Among all ASEAN countries, for the deficit, we are the lowest. Except for Singapore, the America has a surplus to Singapore. It has a baseline of 10 percent," he explained.

Dia menambahkan, sehingga tarif impor Indonesia masih sangat kompetitif bahkan sekarang posisinya masih paling rendah di antara negara-negara yang membuat Amerika defisit.

Susiwijono menyampaikan bahwa negosiasi masih terus berjalan dan daftar final komoditas yang akan diperjuangkan untuk memperoleh tarif 0 persen.

"Sekarang kelompok-kelompok komoditasnya mungkin nanti masih akan bertambah. Kita belum punya list pastinya, kan kita ajukan ke mereka," pungkasnya.

He added, so that Indonesia's import rates are still very competitive, even now its position is still the lowest among countries that make America a deficit.

Susiwijono said that negotiations were still ongoing and the final list of commodities that would be fought for to get a 0 percent tariff.

"Now the commodity groups may still increase. We don't have a definite list yet, we will submit it to them," he concluded.