Indonesia offers to cut duties on US goods, buy $500m of wheat

Indonesia has offered to cut duties on key imports from the United States to “near zero” and to buy $500 million worth of US wheat as part of its tariff talks with Washington, its lead negotiator and a wheat industry association said on Friday.

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Chief economics minister Airlangga Hartarto, who is Indonesia’s lead negotiator, also confirmed that state carrier Garuda Indonesia would buy more Boeing planes as part of a $34 billion pact with US partners due to be signed next week.

Indonesia, which ran a goods trade surplus of $17.9 billion with the United States in 2024 according to the US Trade Representative, is facing a 32 per cent tariff in US markets and has proposed increasing US imports to facilitate trade talks between the two sides.

Airlangga said the Indonesian government has offered to cut tariffs on key American exports, including agricultural products, to near-zero from between 0 per cent and 5 per cent at present.

“It will be near zero (tariffs for US main exports), but it will depend as well on how much the tariffs we get from the US,” Airlangga said.

Garuda’s CEO has said it is in discussions with US Boeing to buy up to 75 units of aircraft. Garuda group did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.

The wheat purchases are also part of next week’s pact with US partners. The chairman of Indonesia's wheat flour mills association, Franciscus Welirang, said its “members will purchase two million tonnes in total through tenders with a competitive price.”