Jakarta. US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he had reached a deal with Indonesia as Jakarta tried to get Washington to drop its looming tariffs.

Trump broke the news on the social media platform Truth Social by announcing that it would be a win for both sides. Trump also revealed that he had directly spoken with President Prabowo Subianto.

“Great deal, for everybody, just made with Indonesia. I dealt directly with their highly respected president. DETAILS TO FOLLOW!!!” Trump wrote.

As of writing, Trump has yet to reveal more information on the deal with Indonesia.

In early April, Trump began imposing a 10 percent baseline tariff on all imports in an attempt to rebalance the US’ trade. He also planned on raising the levy to 32 percent on US-bound Indonesian goods as Washington accused Jakarta of unfair trade practices.

The levy hikes were originally supposed to enter into force that same month, but later got postponed as Trump opened room for negotiations. Just last week, Trump penned a letter to Prabowo, telling him that his 32 percent tariff plan would remain unchanged unless Indonesia makes some concessions.

He also gave the Indonesian government until August 1 to conclude the negotiations, or the tariff hike would apply. This was also not long after Trump threatened to impose 10 percent extra tariffs on countries that aligned with BRICS -- a bloc of major emerging economies that Indonesia has become a member of.

Prabowo has responded by sending his chief economic minister, Airlangga Hartarto, to Washington for another round of talks. 

Trump’s announcement also followed the signing of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between the two countries’ businesses, three involving the state-run energy firm Pertamina. Indonesia has previously proposed increasing its American imports. Before his recent Washington trip, Airlangga said that Indonesian companies were expected to sign some MoUs worth up to $34 billion to boost purchases from the US. The MoUs would also include investment plans involving the sovereign wealth fund Danantara. 

Add as a preferred source on Google +