Jakarta. US President Donald Trump cannot contain his excitement as Washington is about to gain easier access to Indonesia’s critical minerals following his latest trade deal with Jakarta. However, a senior Indonesian minister said that Jakarta would stick to its policy of only exporting processed minerals, meaning that its ban on ore exports would remain in place.

The US recently agreed to cut its reciprocal tariffs from 32 percent to 19 percent on Indonesian goods. In return, Jakarta will not only let American goods enter its market duty-free, but also relax its critical mineral export curbs.

“Indonesia will supply the US with their precious critical minerals,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday local time, while also ending the post with his trademark slogan “make America great again”. 

A joint statement published by the White House that day wrote that Indonesia would "remove restrictions on exports" to the US for all industrial commodities, including critical minerals. The statement did not go into details on the relaxation.

Trump has been eyeing Indonesian copper, a reddish-brown metal key in the production of electric vehicles (EVs) and advanced electronics. 

The Southeast Asian country has banned the export of unprocessed copper ores since early 2025 to encourage metal processing at home. This way, the resource-rich Indonesia can sell higher-value products to its trading partners. A similar ban has been in place for its nickel—another mainstay ingredient in EV battery production—since 2020. This ban was also a centerpiece of Former President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s economic policies.

The joint statement sparked speculations that Indonesia would get rid of this policy just for the sake of a lower-than-promised tariff from Trump. Chief Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto dismissed the rumors of the ore export ban getting lifted when asked by reporters in his office on Wednesday.

“[We are exporting] processed minerals,” Airlangga said.

The US Geological Survey showed that Indonesia’s copper reserves amounted to 21 million metric tons. This is only less than half of what the US possesses. Indonesia mined around 1.1 million metric tons of copper last year. Its domestic refinery production also stood at 350,000 metric tons that same year, compared to the 890,000 metric tons in the US. Washington is still dependent on foreign sources as its smelting and refining capacity is still lagging behind other countries.  Indonesia is the world’s largest nickel producer as production totaled an estimated 2.2 million metric tons in 2024.

Airlangga’s spokesman Haryo Limanseto told the press that day that the government was still working on the technicalities following the joint statement. Both countries will negotiate and finalize the agreement on reciprocal trade for signature.

“We are still drafting a response to what the White House has announced. … It takes time. We want things to be clear as soon as possible, but of course, they [the US] are busy,” Haryo said.

He also could not confirm whether the governments would ink the agreement before the August 1 deadline. 

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