Indonesia and US to Sign MoU on $1.25 Bn Wheat Deal

Indonesia's flour mills association will sign a deal to import at least one million metric tons of US wheat annually for the next five years in a $1.25 billion deal, it told AFP Monday, as Jakarta lays the groundwork to avoid the worst of Donald Trump's tariffs. Chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto told AFP last week Jakarta would step up agriculture imports from the United States to avoid tougher levies Washington says will come into force on August 1 without a new agreement. "We already have an agreement between US Wheat (Associates) and Aptindo (to buy) one million metric tons 2026 to 2030," Indonesian Flour Mills Association head Franciscus Welirang said Monday, referring to the export market development organisation. The deal, worth an estimated $250 million per year, will be signed in Jakarta on Monday, he said. "In the context of Indonesia's tariff negotiation, we as private business together with American private business, US Wheat (Associates) agreed to make an agreement," he said.

Trump said Sunday he would notify various countries of new rates this week, warning that US import levies will snap back to the high levels he set in April before announcing a 90-day pause. Indonesia, which counts the United States among its top trading partners, is facing an extra 32 percent tariff on top of a base 10 percent. Data from the US trade representative office shows Washington's goods trade deficit with Jakarta was $17.9 billion in 2024, up 5.4 percent from the year before. Airlangga, who said negotiations were ongoing with Washington, pledged that Jakarta would also step up its energy and merchandise imports to close the trade gap.