Trump claims tariff deal with Indonesia
After suspending his most aggressive tariff plans from earlier this year, Trump this month renewed his threats, sending warning letters to dozens of countries that he intended to start charging high tariffs from 1 August. His targets included all of America's biggest trade partners, including the European Union, Canada, Mexico, Japan and South Korea. Indonesia also received a letter from Trump last week outlining plans for a 32% tariff on its goods, reportedly bewildering officials who had thought a deal was close. Trump said on Tuesday he had reduced that rate after a phone call with the president of Indonesia. He said as part of the deal, Indonesia had agreed to lower its trade tariffs for products from the US."They are going to pay 19% and we are going to pay nothing ... we will have full access into Indonesia," he said in remarks to reporters. The country has also agreed to purchase $15bn worth in US energy, $4.5bn in American agricultural products and 50 Boeing jets, he later wrote on social media.Those figures are lower than those outlined in a trade deal Reuters had reported earlier this month was expected to be signed. As well as Indonesia, the administration has announced agreements with just the UK, China and Vietnam. In all three of those cases, the deals left high US tariffs in place while key issues and terms went unconfirmed or unresolved.
Everett Eissenstat, a partner at Squire Patton Boggs whose served as an economic adviser during the first Trump administration, said he expected the White House to unveil more deals in the coming weeks, while noting that many countries appeared to have lowered their expectations of what they hope to achieve.He pointed to recent comments on Tuesday by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, which raised the possibility that the country might accept tariffs at levels once considered unthinkable."The tone is changing a lot," he said.
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The Guardian
23 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump says Indonesia to pay 19% tariffs, buy 50 Boeing jets under trade deal
US President Donald Trump says he has struck a trade pact with Indonesia resulting in significant purchase commitments from the south-east Asian country, after negotiations to avoid steeper tariffs. Indonesian goods entering the United States would face a 19% tariff, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. This is significantly below the 32% level the president earlier threatened. 'As part of the Agreement, Indonesia has committed to purchasing $15 Billion Dollars in US Energy, $4.5 Billion Dollars in American Agricultural Products, and 50 Boeing Jets, many of them 777's,' Trump wrote. Boeing shares closed down 0.2% after the announcement. 'They are going to pay 19% and we are going to pay nothing … we will have full access into Indonesia, and we have a couple of those deals that are going to be announced,' Trump said outside the Oval Office earlier. Indonesia's total trade with the US – totalling just under $40bn in 2024 – does not rank in the top 15, but it has been growing. US exports to Indonesia rose 3.7% last year, while imports from there were up 4.8%, leaving the US with a goods trade deficit of nearly $18bn. The Trump administration has been under pressure to wrap up trade pacts after promising a flurry of deals recently, as countries sought talks with Washington to avoid the US president's tariff plans. But Trump has so far only unveiled other deals with Britain and Vietnam, alongside an agreement to temporarily lower tit-for-tat levies with China. Last week, Trump renewed his threat of a 32% levy on Indonesian goods, saying in a letter to the country's leadership that this would take effect 1 August. It remains unclear when the lower tariff level announced on Tuesday will take effect for Indonesia. The period over which its various purchases will take place was also not specified. Trump said on social media that under the deal, which was finalised after he spoke with Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto, goods that have been transshipped to avoid higher duties would face steeper levies. He separately told reporters that other deals were in the works, including with India, while talks with the European Union are continuing. Indonesia's former vice minister for foreign affairs, Dino Patti Djalal, told a Foreign Policy event Tuesday that government insiders had indicated they were happy with the new deal. Trump in April imposed a 10% tariff on almost all trading partners, while announcing plans to eventually hike this level for dozens of economies, including the EU and Indonesia. But days before the steeper duties, customised to each economy, were due to take effect, he pushed the deadline back from 9 July to 1 August. This marked his second postponement of the elevated levies. Instead, since early last week, Trump has been sending letters to partners, setting out the tariff levels they would face come August. So far, he has sent more than 20 such letters including to the EU, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. Trump has unveiled blanket tariffs on trading partners in part to address what his administration deems as unfair practices that hurt US businesses. Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report
Reuters
33 minutes ago
- Reuters
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The Guardian
38 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Senate Republicans advance Trump bill to cancel $9bn in approved spending
Senate Republicans on Tuesday advanced Donald Trump's request to cancel about $9bn in previously approved spending, overcoming concerns about what the rescissions could mean for impoverished people around the globe and for public radio and television stations in their home states. JD Vance broke the tie on the procedural vote, allowing the measure to advance, 51-50. A final vote in the Senate could occur as early as Wednesday. The bill would then return to the House for another vote before it would go to the US president's desk for his signature before a Friday deadline. Republicans winnowed down the president's request by taking out his proposed $400m cut to a program known as Pepfar. That change increased the prospects for the bill's passage. The politically popular program is credited with saving millions of lives since its creation under then president George W Bush to combat HIV/Aids. Trump is also looking to claw back money for foreign aid programs targeted by his so-called 'department of government efficiency' and for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 'When you've got a $36tn debt, we have to do something to get spending under control,' said Senate majority leader John Thune. Republicans met with Russ Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, during their weekly conference luncheon as the White House worked to address their concerns. He fielded about 20 questions from senators. There was some back and forth, but many of the concerns were focused on working toward a resolution, either through arrangements with the administration directly or via an amendment to the bill, said senator John Hoeven. The White House campaign to win over potential holdouts had some success. Senator Mike Rounds tweeted that he would vote to support the measure after working with the administration to 'find Green New Deal money that could be reallocated to continue grants to tribal radio stations without interruption'. Some senators worried that the cuts to public media could decimate many of the 1,500 local radio and television stations around the country that rely on some federal funding to operate. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting distributes more than 70% of its funding to those stations. Maine senator Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the Senate appropriations committee, said the substitute package marked 'progress', but she still raised issues with it, particularly on a lack of specifics from the White House. She questioned how the package could still total $9 billion while also protecting programs that Republicans favor. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she didn't want the Senate to be going through numerous rounds of rescissions. 'We are lawmakers. We should be legislating,' Murkowski said. 'What we're getting now is a direction from the White House and being told: 'This is the priority and we want you to execute on it. We'll be back with you with another round.' I don't accept that.' But the large majority of Republicans were supportive of Trump's request. 'This bill is a first step in a long but necessary fight to put our nation's fiscal house in order,' said senator Eric Schmitt. Democrats oppose the package. They see Trump's request as an effort to erode the Senate filibuster. They also warn it's absurd to expect them to work with Republicans on bipartisan spending measures if Republicans turn around a few months later and use their majority to cut the parts they don't like. 'It shreds the appropriations process,' said senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats. 'The appropriations committee, and indeed this body, becomes a rubber stamp for whatever the administration wants.' Democratic leader Chuck Schumer cautioned that tens of millions of Americans rely on local public radio and television stations for local news, weather alerts and educational programs. He warned that many could lose access to that information because of the rescissions. 'And these cuts couldn't come at a worse time,' Schumer said. 'The floods in Texas remind us that speedy alerts and up-to-the-minute forecasts can mean the difference between life and death.' Democrats also scoffed at the GOP's stated motivation for taking up the bill. The amount of savings pales compared to the $3.4trn in projected deficits over the next decade that Republicans put in motion in passing Trump's big tax and spending cut bill two weeks ago. 'Now, Republicans are pretending they are concerned about the debt,' said senator Patty Murray. 'So concerned that they need to shut down local radio stations, so concerned they are going to cut off Sesame Street ... The idea that that is about balancing the debt is laughable.' With Republicans providing enough votes to take up the bill, it sets up the potential for 10 hours of debate plus votes on scores of potentially thorny amendments in what is known as a vote-a-rama. The House has already shown its support for the president's request with a mostly party line 214-212 vote, but since the Senate is amending the bill, it will have to go back to the House for another vote. Republicans who vote against the measure also face the prospect of incurring Trump's wrath. He has issued a warning on his social media site directly aimed at individual Senate Republicans who may be considering voting against the rescissions package. He said it was important that all Republicans adhere to the bill and in particular defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 'Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement,' he said.
