Jakarta. The United States will grant zero tariffs on Indonesian copper amidst Jakarta’s pursuit of duty-free treatment on certain commodities that Washington can't produce, according to Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani.

Rosan’s announcement came hours before Washington’s 19 percent reciprocal tariffs would enter into force. Speaking in a Japanese business forum, Rosan said that Indonesian copper -- the red mineral key for electric vehicles and advanced electronics production -- would enjoy a 0 percent tariff.

“It’s true that the US will reduce the tariffs on certain goods and commodities that it can’t produce on its own. And now they have approved a 0 percent tariff on copper. We have asked for a similar treatment on nickel and other commodities,” Rosan told the conference in Jakarta on Wednesday evening.

“Seems like they will reduce the tariffs on nickel as well. Maybe not 0 percent, but far below 19 percent,” Rosan said.

In the follow-up doorstep interview, Rosan remained tight-lipped on when the 0 percent tariff on copper would be effective. He also did not comment when asked if it would follow the August 7 deadline. The minister did not go into details on how big a tariff cut that Jakarta aims for in other commodities like palm oil and nickel.

Earlier that day, senior minister Airlangga Hartarto told the Jakarta Globe that the tariff reduction negotiations on palm oil were still ongoing.

US President Donald Trump has been eyeing the red mineral, even talking about how “high-quality” Indonesian copper is. Trump at the time had just announced he would cut his initial 32 percent tariffs on US-bound Indonesian goods to 19 percent after Jakarta agreed to make some trade concessions. 

According to a joint statement published by the White House, the deal will see Indonesia removing its export restrictions on critical minerals. The clause had initially created assumptions that Jakarta was mulling lifting its ban on exports of unprocessed copper ores. However, Airlangga had said that the ban would remain in place, and Jakarta would only send copper that had undergone processing at home. 

Mining giant Freeport Indonesia, whose minority shareholder is the American company Freeport-McMoran, already runs a smelter facility in Gresik. The smelter aims to produce 441,000 tons of copper cathode each year. Its annual processing capacity would reach 1.7 million tons with a cathode output of up to 600,000 tons a year, the company’s official website showed.

Indonesia’s copper reserves stood at 21 million metric tons, still half of that of the US -- as seen in a report issued by the US Geological Survey. Both countries mined around 1.1 million metric tons of copper in 2024. Indonesia's domestic refinery production also stood at 350,000 metric tons that same year, versus the 890,000 metric tons in the US. The White House reported that the US had to rely on mined, smelted, and refined copper as the domestic capacity was still significantly lagging behind global competitors.

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