Indonesia's top negotiator to visit US ahead of tariff deadline: Official
Airlangga is currently in Brazil accompanying President Prabowo Subianto for the Brics conference, but is scheduled to go to the United States afterwards to oversee tariff negotiations ahead of the July 9 deadline, said Haryo Limanseto, spokesperson at the coordinating ministry for economic affairs.
The largest economy in South-East Asia is facing a 32% tariff in US markets and Jakarta has offered to cut duties to near-zero on US main goods. To smoothe tariff talks, it has also proposed US investment in its critical minerals and offered to import more US products.
A US$34 billion trade deal between Indonesian companies - including state carrier Garuda and noodle making giant Indofood - and US partners was expected to be signed on Monday, but the exact time has not yet been disclosed, Indofood director Franciscus Welirang told Reuters on Monday.
Indofood together with other members of Indonesia's wheat flour mills association have agreed to buy two million tonnes of US wheat worth $500 million.
The United States is Indonesia's second largest export market after China, with a total value of $28.1 billion in goods shipped to the United States in 2024, according to US. Trade Representative. The South-East Asian country ran a $17.9 billion goods trade surplus with the United States last year.
US tariffs could reduce Indonesia's potential growth by 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has warned.
The government has adjusted Indonesia's 2025's GDP outlook downwards to a range of between 4.7% and 5.0%, compared to an earlier target of 5.2%. - Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
43 minutes ago
- The Star
Jeffrey Epstein grand jury records to remain sealed, judge rules
FILE PHOTO: Epstein's lawyer Reid Weingarten addresses Judge Richard Berman during a hearing in the criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein, who died earlier in the month, in what a New York City medical examiner ruled a suicide, in a courtroom sketch at Federal Court in New York, U.S., August 27, 2019. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg/File Photo (Adds missing dateline) NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. judge denied on Wednesday the Justice Department's bid to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted the late financier Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges. Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Richard Berman's decision came as PresidentDonald Trump triesto quell discontent from his conservative base of supporters over his administration's handling of the case. Trump, a Republican, had promised to make public Epstein-related files if reelected and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the Justice Department declined to release any more material from its investigation of the case andsaid a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist,angeringTrump's supporters. Evidence seen and heard by grand juries, which operate behind closed doors to prevent interference in criminal investigations, cannot be released without a judge's approval. Trump in July instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek court approval for the release of grand jury material from Epstein's case. The grand jury that indicted Epstein heard from just one witness, an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Justice Department said in a court filing in July. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. His death in jail and his friendships with the wealthy and powerful sparked conspiracy theories that other prominent people were involved in his alleged crimes and that he was murdered. The New York City chief medical examinerdeterminedthat Epstein's death was a suicide by hanging. On Aug. 11, a different Manhattan-based judge, Paul Engelmayer, denied a similar request by the Justice Department to unseal grand jury testimony and exhibits from the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime girlfriend. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence following her 2021 conviction for recruiting underage girls for Epstein to abuse. Engelmayer wrote that the public would not learn anything new from the release of materials from Maxwell's grand jury because much of the evidence was made public at her monthlong trial four years ago. The grand jury testimony contained no evidence of others besides Epstein and Maxwell who had sexual contact with minors, Engelmayer wrote. Maxwell had pleaded not guilty. After losing an appeal, she has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review her case. In July, a Florida judge rejected the administration's request to unseal grand jury records from federal investigations there into Epstein in 2005 and 2007. Epstein served a 13-month sentence after pleading guilty in 2008 to a state-level prostitution charge as part of a deal now widely regarded as too lenient. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis)
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Exclusive-Brazil judge targeted by US sanctions confident of Trump reversal
Brazil's Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes looks on during a session of the Supreme Court in Brasilia, Brazil, August 19, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado BRASILIA (Reuters) -The judge at the center of escalating tensions between Brazil and the United States told Reuters he is counting on a change of heart from President Donald Trump to unwind sanctions against him, which he said lack consensus within the U.S. government. Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has ratcheted up restraining orders against former President Jair Bolsonaro during his trial for an alleged 2022 coup plot. Trump demanded an end to the case that he calls a "witch hunt" as he slapped a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods and hit Moraes with financial sanctions that are putting Brazil's banks on edge. Despite fears of a spiraling crisis for bilateral relations, the judge expressed confidence in a late Tuesday interview at his Brasilia office that sanctions would be unwound against him via diplomatic channels or an eventual challenge in U.S. courts. "A judicial challenge is possible and I have not yet found a U.S. or Brazilian lawyer or scholar who doubts the courts would overturn. But at this moment, I've chosen to wait. That's my choice. It's a diplomatic matter for the country," said Moraes. The standoff with Trump is the highest-profile test yet for the 56-year-old jurist, whose bald visage and muscular frame have come to define the Brazilian high court he joined eight years ago. He has taken the lead on many of the court's most prominent cases, cowing Elon Musk in a showdown over his social media platform, sending hundreds of right-wing rioters in the capital to prison and barring Bolsonaro from running for office. Navigating the U.S. crackdown on his personal finances and bilateral trade with Brazil has done little to change his routine, he said, which includes boxing, martial arts and a new favorite book: Henry Kissinger's "Leadership," the late U.S. diplomat's final volume on 20th century statecraft. Moraes said he trusts diplomacy will restore his standing in Washington. He said prosecutors blamed the current fallout on a campaign by allies of Bolsonaro, including the former president's lawmaker son Eduardo, who is in the U.S. and under investigation in Brazil for courting Trump's intervention in his father's case. "Once the correct information has been passed along, as is being done now, and the documented information reaches the U.S. authorities, I believe it won't even require any legal action to reverse (the sanctions). I believe that the U.S. executive branch itself, the president, will reverse them," Moraes said. Pressed on the reason for that confidence, Moraes said he was aware of internal divisions in the U.S. government that had slowed the sanctions and could still undermine them. "There was reluctance in the State Department and great reluctance in the Treasury Department," he said, without elaborating or explaining how he received that information. A State Department official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters separately that the sanctions against Moraes had faced substantial pushback from career officials. The actions against Moraes were "completely, legally inappropriate," said the source on condition of anonymity, adding that officials from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control had initially said no but were overruled. A Treasury spokesperson said: "The Treasury Department and Office of Foreign Assets Control, along with the entire Trump administration, is in lockstep that Alexandre de Moraes has engaged in serious human rights abuse. Rather than concocting a fantasy fiction, de Moraes should stop carrying out arbitrary detentions and politicized prosecutions." The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Brazilian courts could punish Brazilian financial institutions for seizing or blocking domestic assets in response to U.S. orders, Moraes also said in the interview. (Reporting by Brad Haynes and Ricardo Brito in BrasiliaAdditional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and David LawderEditing by Rosalba O'Brien)
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Disney's new ESPN app reaches for sports fans outside cable TV
FILE PHOTO: A 3D printed Disney logo is seen in front of the ESPN logo in this illustration created on July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo LOS ANGELES -Walt Disney's ESPN will deliver its full range of sports programming outside of pay TV for the first time starting on Thursday, when the network debuts an app designed to be a hub for live games and personalized news, stats and highlights. The ESPN app is Disney's effort to capture some of the tens of millions of customers that the pioneering sports channel has lost since 2010 during the streaming TV revolution. ESPN executives said they have tailored the new offering, which is far broader than the limited ESPN+ app launched in 2018, to cater to the tastes of today's sports fans. "We know that fans don't just want to watch," ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro told reporters. "They want an experience. They want to interact." The app will offer more than 47,000 live events each year from the NFL, NBA, WNBA, NHL, college football, tennis, golf and other sports. It will cost $30 per month. An introductory offer will include ad-supported versions of the Disney+ and Hulu streaming services for free. Fans can enter their favorite teams and sports for customization such as a personalized version of the "SportsCenter" news and recap show. Artificial intelligence will generate narration based on the voices of ESPN anchors. A new feature called "Verts," or scroll-ready, vertical video highlights, also can be tailored. Stats for a user's fantasy players will be displayed next to live games. And an ESPN Bet tab will show live, settled and upcoming bets for users who have linked their betting accounts. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger has called the app "a sports fan's dream." Industry analysts see it as a chance for the company to pick up fans who do not subscribe to cable, and they do not expect it will pull masses from pay TV. ESPN was available in 100 million homes through pay TV in 2010. In July of this year, that number stood at about 61 million. "It's another step in Disney's pivot to (streaming) and the importance to streaming to the overall company," said MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman. ESPN will promote the app extensively. Actor John Cena will star in commercials that stress "All of ESPN. All in One Place." Pay television will "remain a big part" of ESPN's business, Pitaro said. For the quarter that ended in June, ESPN accounted for $1 billion of Disney's $4.6 billion in operating income, or nearly 22%. Most of ESPN's revenue came from fees paid by cable and satellite distributors and from advertising. Subscribers to pay TV will have access to the new ESPN app. Pitaro said the company hoped to drive all of its customers to the app "because that's by far the best, the most holistic experience." (Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
