Glembert
KN. The government is looking to sign a bilateral trade agreement with the United States by the end of this month as the two sides aim to iron out details left open in a handshake deal announced in July. Coordinating Economy Minister Airlangga Hartarto, who helms the Indonesian delegation in the tariff negotiations, told reporters on Tuesday that the bilateral talks were over and the process was now in the legal drafting stage, which would hopefully be finished this October.
The Indonesian delegation has scheduled at least six virtual meetings with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Office over the coming weeks and plans to fly to Washington, DC, at the end of the month to sign the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART), which would make Indonesia one of the first countries to do so. The archipelago was also among the first to secure a framework tariff agreement with the U.S. government that brought the duties imposed on Indonesian exports down from a threatened 32 percent to 19 percent in July, in exchange for various concessions, only to find out later that other Southeast Asian countries would receive the exact same rate without as many concessions.
Coordinating Economy Minister Airlangga Hartarto assured that the U.S. government shutdown will not affect the rupiah exchange rate. He said government operations differ from financial market affairs. Regarding tariff negotiations, Airlangga confirmed that the bilateral negotiation points between Indonesia and the U.S. are relatively finalized. Therefore, he is confident that the U.S. shutdown will not affect Indonesia’s trade negotiation outcomes.
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