Trump Says Most Countries Want to Keep Pre-Ruling Trade Deals
Jakarta. US President Donald Trump has said that “most countries” want to keep their existing trade deals after a Supreme Court ruling upended his economic agenda.
In an annual message that clocked in at around an hour and 50 minutes, Trump — as expected — boasted about how his tariff policies had led to a major economic turnaround. Trump also spoke of the “very unfortunate” court ruling that declared that he had violated federal law by launching sweeping tariffs across the globe, including Indonesia. But the businessman-turned-politician claimed that most countries were already “happy” with the deals they had struck pre-ruling.
“The good news is that almost all countries and corporations want to keep the deal that they already made. … Knowing that the legal power that I, as president, have, to make a new deal could be far worse for them,” Trump said, when he delivered his 2026 State of the Union in Washington on Tuesday night local time.
He went on to say how these countries would work along “the same successful path” that they had negotiated prior the court’s involvement. However, Trump did not say if Indonesia was one of the trading partners that was content with the current reciprocal trade agreement.
It did not take long for Trump to roll out a new tariff package after his favorite economic policy was outlawed. He initially rolled out the now-in-effect-but-temporary 10% global tariffs, while pledging to raise it to 15%. Trump described these new across-the-board duties as “a little more complex”, but can “actually probably be better, leading to a solution that will be even stronger than before.”
Indonesia’s trade pact was quite ill-timed, although analysts have called the ruling as a blessing in disguise after the provisions were published. The gap between the ruling and the signing was even less than 24 hours. President Prabowo Subianto has said that Jakarta would brace for “all possibilities”. Indonesia already secured 19% import tax for its US-bound goods, with some exceptions for palm oil, textiles, among others. Prabowo’s chief negotiator Airlangga Hartarto told reporters that Jakarta immediately engaged in talks with the Trump administration after the court ruling.
“With the new 10% tariffs, what we are asking for is for the US to keep the tariff at 0% on the agreed products. … We are currently in talks to have these exemptions remain in place,” Airlangga said, over the weekend.
The Indonesia-US trade deal is still subject to legislative processes. The provisions will only enter into force 90 days after a formal notification that the ratification processes have reached completion. Airlangga signaled there would be special treatment for those who have already struck deals. Trump has treated the tariffs as an economic tool to narrow Washington's deficit.
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