American President Donald Trump unveiled a new list of tariffs that slap a 19 percent tariff on US-bound Indonesian goods -- the same as many of its ASEAN neighbors like Malaysia and Thailand.

In an executive order signed Thursday local time, Trump announced he would keep Indonesia’s rate at 19 percent as previously agreed.

Malaysia got a 19 percent tariff at the very last minute, quite a drop from what Trump had previously threatened: 25 percent. The Philippines will face a 19 percent import tax. The same goes for Cambodia and Thailand. Trump had used his steep duties on the two warring countries to end their bloody fighting. Indonesia's Southeast Asian neighbors had agreed to a ceasefire in a Malaysia-brokered peace deal. Both countries were originally supposed to be subject to a 36 percent rate.

Vietnam -- Indonesia’s top competitor in apparel and footwear exports -- will get charged a 20 percent tariff. The document also set a 25 percent tax on Bruneian goods. Levies on Singapore will remain at 10 percent. Tariffs on Laos and Myanmar stay at 40 percent after the two countries failed to clinch a trade deal.

The new tariff regime will take effect on August 7.

According to a White House fact sheet on the latest trade move, the US clearly looked forward to the deal with Indonesia.

“Additional trade deals with Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, and others will protect our industries, open foreign markets, and encourage foreign investment in American industries,” the White House wrote.

The latest tariffs on Indonesia marked a 13 percentage point drop from what Trump had announced back in April. In exchange for a lower-than-promised levy, Jakarta has promised to make some major trade concessions, including eliminating the tariffs on virtually all US goods and making some major energy purchases worth $15 billion and $3.2 billion for American aircraft procurement. Jakarta has also agreed to buy American farm products totaling $4.5 billion in value.

The freshly released executive order meant two of the world’s largest palm oil suppliers, Indonesia and Malaysia, would get a 19 percent tariff. However, senior minister Airlangga Hartarto recently revealed that negotiations were still underway in hopes that Indonesian palm oil and cacao, among others, could get lower rates, or even close to 0 percent.

“The US will lower the 19 percent duty on goods that it cannot produce domestically, such as palm oil. But we are still negotiating the terms,” Airlangga said in Jakarta earlier this week.

Source: Jakarta Globe

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