Yogyakarta, Indonesia – The United States and Indonesia met on April 11-12 under their bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) to discuss ways to boost trade and investment between them. These discussions built on exchanges between the United States and Indonesia at the ASEAN Leaders Summit and the ASEAN Economic Ministers Roadshow in February, which highlighted policies to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.
Led by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Barbara Weisel and Ministry of Trade Director General for International Trade Negotiations Iman Pambagyo, the two sides discussed Indonesia’s economic reform and liberalization agenda and reflected on progress they had made over the past year, as well as their shared goal of making further concrete and meaningful progress in the year ahead. The United States provided information on Trans-Pacific Partnership outcomes, responding to Indonesia’s interest in potentially joining the agreement. In addition, they discussed investment issues, ways to improve Indonesia’s intellectual property protection, and proposals for further cooperation and information exchange on priority environmental issues, including combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
The United States and Indonesia engaged on ways to address bilateral trade and investment issues, including localization requirements in the high-tech sector, toy standards, and new agricultural import requirements. The TIFA meeting also provided the United States and Indonesia the opportunity to discuss regional and multilateral initiatives, including ratification of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and implementation of the APEC environmental goods commitments.
Following the TIFA meeting, the delegations met with U.S. and Indonesian business representatives to discuss trade and investment-enabling policies. U.S. and Indonesian business representatives also provided input on specific bilateral issues.
Background:
U.S.-Indonesia trade has nearly doubled in the last decade, with two-way goods trade totaling almost $27 billion last year. U.S. exports of agricultural products to Indonesia totaled $2.2 billion, making Indonesia the 13th largest export market for U.S. agricultural products last year. Two-way services trade has grown as well, totaled $3.2 billion in 2014 (latest available data). U.S. foreign direct investment in Indonesia in 2014 was $13.5 billion (latest available data).
