EU, Indonesia Seal Zero-Tariff Trade for Most Goods

KN. Indonesia and the European Union concluded a free trade agreement after nine years of talks, with both aiming to boost exports and investment and to offset the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Both sides will remove import duties on more than 90 percent of products, most of them as soon as the deal enters force, with the rest, including Indonesia’s 50 percent duty on EU cars, phased out over five years. Indonesia says it expects bilateral trade, worth $30.1 billion for goods in 2024, to double in the first five years. The agreement opens opportunities for Indonesia to expand exports to 27 EU member states. On the other hand, the European Union will receive preferential treatment on duties for Indonesian raw materials that have undergone initial processing. However, the agreement will not affect Indonesia’s ban on nickel ore exports to the European Union, which remains a point of dispute between the two parties at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Bloomberg