Indonesia’s trade deal with Washington is in danger of collapsing as US officials become increasingly frustrated at what they view as Jakarta reneging on the terms of the agreement reached in July.
People familiar with the negotiations between Washington and Jakarta said US trade representative Jamieson Greer believes Indonesia is “backtracking” on several commitments it made.
Indonesian officials have told the USTR that Jakarta cannot agree to some binding commitments in the deal. They want to reframe them in ways the Trump administration argues would produce worse agreements for the US than recent deals it has struck with two other south-east Asian countries, Malaysia and Cambodia, according to the people.