Garuda Indonesia's Boeing jets deal: a win-win or political trade-off?
Indonesia 's flag carrier to
buy 50 Boeing aircraft has drawn scrutiny over whether the order is a genuine business decision or a political trade-off linked to Washington's recent tariff cuts on Indonesian imports.
Advertisement
The deal was unveiled by the White House on July 22 alongside news that US President Donald Trump had agreed to reduce his so-called reciprocal tariff on Indonesian imports to the US to 19 per cent from the initial 32 per cent he imposed in April.
The joint statement noted Indonesia's intention to purchase dozens of Boeing aircraft, a move that had earlier been flagged by Trump himself in a social media post touting Jakarta's agreement to buy '50 Boeing jets, many of them 777s'.
President
Prabowo Subianto has since defended the procurement as necessary for modernising Garuda Indonesia, the country's state-owned airline, which is emerging from near-bankruptcy.
'I don't think there's a problem because we need it, and they want to sell it. I'm determined to grow Garuda, and for that, we need new aircraft,' Prabowo said on July 16.
Advertisement
Prabowo assured that Boeing planes 'are good enough', and that the airline would purchase jets 'from Airbus too'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTHK
37 minutes ago
- RTHK
I won't have 'humiliating' talks with Trump, says Lula
I won't have 'humiliating' talks with Trump, says Lula The Brazilian president says he plans to call the leaders of China and India to discuss a joint Brics response Donald Trump's tariffs. Photo: Reuters As US tariffs on Brazilian goods jumped to 50 percent on Wednesday, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Reuters in an interview that he saw no room for direct talks now with US President Donald Trump that would likely be a "humiliation." Brazil is not about to announce reciprocal tariffs, he said. Nor will his government give up on cabinet-level talks. But Lula himself is in no rush to ring the White House. "The day my intuition says Trump is ready to talk, I won't hesitate to call him," Lula said in an interview from his presidential residence in Brasilia. "But today my intuition says he doesn't want to talk. And I won't humiliate myself." Despite Brazil's exports facing one of the highest tariffs imposed by Trump, the new US trade barriers look unlikely to derail Latin America's largest economy, giving Lula more room to stand his ground against Trump than most Western leaders. Lula described US-Brazil relations at a 200-year nadir after Trump tied the new tariff to his demands for an end to the prosecution of right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is standing trial for plotting to overturn the 2022 election. The president said Brazil's Supreme Court, which is hearing the case against Bolsonaro, "does not care what Trump says and it should not," adding that Bolsonaro should face another trial for provoking Trump's intervention, calling the right-wing former president a "traitor to the homeland." He also said he was planning to call leaders from the Brics group of developing nations, starting with India and China, to discuss the possibility of a joint response to US tariffs. "There is no coordination among the Brics yet, but there will be," Lula said. "What is the negotiating power of one little country with the United States? None." Separately, he said Brazil was looking at lodging a collective complaint with other countries at the World Trade Organization. "I was born negotiating," said Lula, who was raised in poverty and rose through union ranks to serve two terms as president from 2003 to 2010, then re-entered politics in the 2022 election to defeat the incumbent Bolsonaro. But he said he was in no rush to strike a deal or retaliate against US tariffs: "We need to be very cautious," he said. (Reuters)
South China Morning Post
43 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Forgive and forget? Prabowo's pardons divide Indonesia
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has granted pardons to two high-profile political figures convicted of corruption-related offences, a move swiftly approved by parliament and framed by his administration as an effort to promote national unity. Advertisement But the decision has drawn scrutiny as both men were seen as political opponents of Prabowo's coalition during last year's election, with critics arguing it risks politicising the pardon process and undermining judicial independence in the world's third-largest democracy. The pardons, a constitutional prerogative of the president, include one for former trade minister Thomas Trikasih Lembong – now a prominent government critic – who was sentenced to 4½ years in jail and fined 750 million rupiah (US$46,000) last month over a corruption case involving sugar import policies from 2015 to 2016. Prabowo also granted clemency to Hasto Kristiyanto, a secretary general at the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) who was sentenced to 3½ years in jail last month for abetting bribery. PDI-P was the winner of last year's legislative election and the only political party excluded from Prabowo's massive coalition, which boasts 81 per cent of the seats in parliament. Thomas Lembong at the Central Jakarta Court on July 18. Lembong was sentenced to 4½ years in jail and fined last month over a corruption case involving sugar import policies from 2015 to 2016. Photo: Reuters Lembong's pardon removes his case, including his sentences, from public records, whereas the terms of Hasto's pardon eliminate his punishment. The House of Representatives approved Prabowo's clemency plan on July 31, just a day after he filed the request.
RTHK
2 hours ago
- RTHK
Trump hikes India levy over Russian oil
Trump hikes India levy over Russian oil US President Donald Trump has imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on goods from India. Photo: AFP US President Donald Trump has ordered steeper tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil. The additional 25-percent tariff on Indian goods, coming into place in three weeks, stacks atop a separate 25-percent duty entering into force on Thursday, taking the level to 50 percent for many products. Trump's order also threatens penalties on other countries who "directly or indirectly" import Russian oil, a key revenue source for Moscow's war in Ukraine. Exemptions remain however for goods targeted under sector-specific duties such as steel and aluminium, and categories that could be hit later, like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. Smartphones are in this list of exempted products for now, shielding Apple from a major hit as the US tech titan shifts production from China to India. India's foreign ministry condemned Trump's announcement, calling the move "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable." The ministry previously said India began importing oil from Russia as traditional supplies were diverted to Europe over the war – noting that Washington had "actively encouraged" such imports to strengthen "global energy market stability." But Trump recently raised pressure on India over the oil purchases, threatening new tariffs as part of a campaign to force Moscow into ending its conflict with Ukraine. The 25-percent additional tariff is lower than a 100-percent level Trump floated last month when he told Russia to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days or face massive new economic sanctions. The Republican said at the time that these would be "secondary tariffs" targeting Russia's remaining trade partners, seeking to impede Moscow's ability to survive already sweeping Western sanctions. "This marks a low point in US-India relations," said Farwa Aamer, the Asia Society Policy Institute's director of South Asia Initiatives. She expects domestic pressure for India to accede to US demands, but said "this will be a tough road to navigate." (AFP)
