Indonesia, US firms sign over $7 billion in trade, investment deals

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Indonesian and U.S. companies on Wednesday signed trade and investment deals valued at more than $7 billion a day ahead of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to sign a final trade deal, the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council said.

The agreements, signed at a dinner for Prabowo hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, include purchases by Indonesian firms of 1 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, 1.6 million tons of corn, and 93,000 tons of cotton over unspecified periods, according to a U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) fact sheet.

It added that Indonesia will buy 1 million tons of wheat this year and up to 5 million tons by 2030.

The deals include a memorandum of understanding between U.S. mining group Freeport McMoRan and the Indonesian Ministry of Investment for critical minerals cooperation and an agreement between state oil producer Pertamina and Halliburton Co to cooperate on oilfield recovery, USABC said.

They also include two semiconductor joint venture agreements, including one valued at $4.89 billion between Essence Global Group and another unvalued venture involving Tynergy Technology Group.

USABC valued Indonesia’s purchases of soybeans at $685 million, wheat at $1.25 billion, cotton at $122 million and an additional purchase of U.S. shredded worn clothing for recycling at $200 million.

In the decade from 2015 to 2024, Indonesia averaged annual imports of 2.3 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, nearly 800,000 tons of wheat, about 180,000 tons of cotton, and less than 100,000 tons of corn, according to U.S. Census Bureau trade data.

The Southeast Asian country has imported around $3 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products annually in recent years, making it the 11th largest market for all U.S. farm goods.

Not all of the deals were given price tags, and these included Indonesian purchases of U.S. lumber and furniture products.

Prabowo said at the dinner that the deals were among the implementing agreements to the U.S.-Indonesian trade deal that he is due to sign on Thursday with Trump. He said these would help reduce Indonesia’s trade surplus with the U.S., adding: “I’m very optimistic about the future of our relationship.”

The Indonesian leader arrived in Washington this week for Trump’s Board of Peace meeting, with hopes Jakarta can secure a slight tariff reduction to 18% from 19% agreed last year. That would match the rate Trump granted to India earlier in February.

In remarks to the dinner, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Rick Switzer did not mention the final tariff rate for Indonesia, but said the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade between the two democracies “will mean more trade — bilateral trade. It will mean more investment. It’ll mean deeper, more comprehensive economic, investment and trade ties.”

(Reporting by David Lawder, additional reporting by Karl Plume in Washington and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Christian Schmollinger)