EnThe Indonesian President Joko Widodo is open to discussing a bilateral trade deal with the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reports. That follows the U.S. withdrawal from the TPP trade, as outlined in Panjiva research of January 23. While Indonesia was not an original member of that deal it had looked to join. Notably it is a part of ASEAN and so is involved in the development of the RCEP trade deal centered on China.
The move may be pre-emptive. Indonesia had a $13.1 billion trade surplus with the U.S. in 2016, Panjiva data for U.S. imports and exports shows. That was the 14th highest country (11th if counting the EU as a single entity), and was partly the result of a 12.6% drop in exports from the U.S. to Indonesia. Exports by Indonesia to the U.S. are dominated by apparel and rubber, which could end up as targets in the forthcoming Omnibus report from the Commerce Department.
Source: Panjiva
