Jakarta. Indonesia’s exports to the United States fell 12.39 percent in August compared to the previous month as Washington’s punitive tariffs began to bite.

A 19 percent tariff on US-bound Indonesian goods officially took effect on August 7. Prior to the tariff hikes, the US had already been collecting a 10 percent tariff on all imports from Indonesia and elsewhere starting early April. While Washington made up a lion’s share of Jakarta’s surplus, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported a double-digit drop in August exports going to the world’s largest economy.

“Our exports to the US hit $2.72 billion in August, down 12.39 percent from the previous month. However, our exports actually rose 2.96 percent year-on-year [yoy],” M Habibullah, a deputy for statistics production at BPS, told a news conference on Wednesday. 

Habibullah went on to say that Indonesia’s sales of both crude palm oil and its derivatives to the US totaled 2.56 million tons. He did not disclose the value of the palm oil export or whether this was bigger or smaller than the previous month’s shipments. On a related note, Indonesia has been nudging the US to exempt palm oil, among other commodities, from its tariffs. 

Despite the monthly decline, the US remained Indonesia’s biggest surplus driver. Between January and August 2025, Indonesia maintained an overall positive trade balance of $12.20 billion with the US, up from $9.16 billion recorded during the same eight-month period in 2024. Non-oil and gas surplus expanded from $10.77 billion to $14.09 billion over the same period, BPS data showed. This has also helped Indonesia extend its 64-month streak of being in the black since May 2020.

“Our non-oil and gas exports to the US in January-August 2025 reached $20.60 billion, dominated by machinery and electrical equipment [at $3.79 billion],” Habibullah said.

US President Donald Trump had launched the tariffs against nearly all trading partners in a bid to improve Washington’s trade imbalance. Trump initially wanted to slap 32 percent tariffs on Indonesian goods, but decided to cut it to 19 percent after Jakarta agreed to remove the import tax for nearly all American products. In exchange for lower tariffs, Indonesia also had to make some import commitments, including a pledge to buy $15 billion worth of American energy products.

Trump even recently talked of how his administration had negotiated a “historic” trade deal with Indonesia and other countries in a speech to the UN General Assembly. The businessman-turned-politician also told world leaders in the UN hall that the tariffs were necessary to defend his country’s “sovereignty and security”. 

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