Jakarta. Indonesia is keeping its fingers crossed that the levy on Washington-bound palm oil and electric components stay 0% following US President Donald Trump’s 10% global tariffs. 

“What we are asking for is for the US to keep the tariff at 0% on the agreed products. … We are currently in talks to have these exemptions remain in place,” Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto told reporters in Washington on Saturday.

The US Supreme Court recently ruled that Trump could not use a 1977 emergency law to justify his reciprocal tariffs. Trump, not wanting to succumb to defeat, quickly unveiled new 10% tariffs on all countries. And that includes Indonesia, the latest country to have struck a trade deal with the Trump 2.0 government.

Under the newly signed bilateral trade pact, over 1,819 tariff posts — including palm oil as well as electronic and aircraft components — have their levies dropped to 0%. A predetermined volume of Indonesian textiles, too, was supposed to be tariff-free. And now Jakarta hopes that these exemptions stay unchanged.

Airlangga, who led Indonesia's negotiation team in tariff talks with Washington, admitted that the government already had a hunch about the Supreme Court ruling. But the 10% global tariffs indeed have caught the world’s largest palm oil supplier off guard. He went on to say that there was still time for more negotiations, although Washington is “currently occupied with the global tariffs”. 

Airlangga claimed to have already spoken to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, while signaling there could be special treatment for countries with trade deals. Cacao, coffee, and spices are likely to retain their zero tariffs. These agricultural products were already free from the reciprocal tariffs, according to an executive order that Trump had signed a few months ago.

The new, across-the-board 10% tariffs will initially last for 150 days, starting on the early hours of Feb. 24 Washington time, according to the White House. President Prabowo Subianto separately said that the ruling “would benefit Indonesia”, as the new tariffs would sharply lower the levy on Indonesian goods. The US has previously agreed to enact 19% tariffs on Indonesian goods, quite a steep decline compared to the originally intended 32% rate.

“We are ready to face any possibilities. We will respect the US domestic politics. We will keep an eye on the developments,” Prabowo said.

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