US and Indonesia Trade Deal at Risk of Collapse

A US trade agreement reached with Indonesia in July is at risk of collapsing, according to a US official who said Jakarta has backtracked on several commitments made as part of the deal. The US had agreed to drop tariffs on Indonesian products in exchange for Indonesia to eliminate tariffs on over 99% of US goods and remove non-tariff barriers facing American firms. Indonesian officials said talks between the two sides are still ongoing and "dynamics" in the negotiation process are normal while another government source noted harmonisation of the language is required for the agreement. But, US officials argue Indonesia no longer accepts some binding commitments and wants to reframe them, which they say would leave the U.S. with worse agreements than recent deals with Malaysia and Cambodia. Financial Times reported concerns over Indonesia “backsliding” on scrapping non-tariff barriers and digital trade commitments.