Indonesia tariff negotiator to meet Howard in US, aims to tout natural resources
Indonesia will highlight its strategic importance in global trade, especially its natural resources, as it forges ahead with negotiations to try to reduce a 32 percent tariff imposed by the United States, a government official said on Wednesday.
Indonesia’s chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto, who leads the negotiation team, is scheduled to meet with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and other officials, spokesperson for the economic ministry Haryo Limanseto said, without providing a timeframe.
Indonesia’s 32 percent tariff will be imposed by the United States from August 1 and is unchanged from that threatened by Washington in April.
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has proposed slashing its duties on American products to near zero and offered to increase U.S. purchases and investment in the country, amounting to about $34 billion.
“The coordinating minister will convey that Indonesia is a very strategic country with all its natural resources,” Haryo said. “We hope that the U.S. will reconsider.”
G20 economy Indonesia is a major producer of minerals such as nickel, tin, copper and is the world’s biggest exporter of palm oil.
Several Indonesian companies have signed initial deals with U.S. counterparts to increase purchases of energy, wheat, corn and cotton, among others.
China discovers source of lithium ores
China, among the world’s largest holders of lithium reserves, has discovered a massive deposit of 490 million tonnes of lithium ore in Central Hunan province, the provincial department of natural resources said Tuesday.
The deposit, found in the Jijiaoshan mining area in Linwu county, has been classified as an altered granite-type lithium deposit, containing about 1.31 million tonnes of lithium oxide, according to the department.
It also contains other minerals such as rubidium, tungsten, and tin, added the department.
Due to complex geological conditions, the discovery was made possible through advances in exploration technologies and years of exploration work, according to the Mineral Resources Survey Institute of Hunan province, which led the project.
Xu Yiming, a professor with the institute, said that the newly discovered lithium reserve would provide resources for the city of Chenzhou, which administers Linwu, to further develop its new-energy industry.
Lithium is a critical element with a wide range of applications, including in electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and mobile communications.
The China Geological Survey under the Ministry of Natural Resources said in January the country’s lithium reserves had increased to 16.5 percent of the global total, propelling it to the second place in the world rankings.
In Critical Minerals Sector, Kyrgyzstan Seeks Foreign Investment
Kyrgyzstan is emerging as a potential player in the global critical minerals market and is actively seeking international partnerships to develop its untapped geological resources.
Speaking at the International Forum on Critical Minerals 2025 in Seoul on May 12-13, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, Ecology, and Technical Supervision Marat Jusupbekov emphasized the country’s growing relevance in the strategic resource sector. He noted that Kyrgyzstan is home to 11 deposits of rare earth elements (REEs), positioning it as a promising destination for investment and cooperation.
“Kyrgyzstan has significant reserves of rare and critical minerals that are essential for the energy transition and high-tech manufacturing. We are open to cooperation with global partners,” Jusupbekov said during his address.
One of the most notable assets is the Kutessay II deposit, which holds more than 63,300 tons of rare earth metals, along with molybdenum, silver, bismuth, lead, and zinc. The government is promoting joint development of this site with the nearby Kalesai beryllium deposit, which contains an estimated 11,700 tons of beryllium. Both deposits are licensed to Kyrgyzgeology, a state-owned enterprise tasked with attracting foreign investment.
In August OPEC+ members agree to larger-than-expected oil production hike
Eight oil-producing nations of the OPEC+ alliance agreed on Saturday to increase their collective crude production by 548,000 barrels per day, as they continue to unwind a set of voluntary supply cuts.
This subset of the alliance — comprising heavyweight producers Russia and Saudi Arabia, alongside Algeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates — met digitally earlier in the day. They had been expected to increase their output by a smaller 411,000 barrels per day.
In a statement, the OPEC Secretariat attributed the countries’ decision to raise August daily output by 548,000 barrels to “a steady global economic outlook and current healthy market fundamentals, as reflected in the low oil inventories.”
Kazakhstan / Gov’t to increase Uranium Extraction Taxes
Kazakhstan, the world’s largest producer of uranium for nuclear power plants, has announced a significant increase in its mineral extraction tax for uranium.
In a statement on its website on 10 July, Kazakh state uranium mining company Kazatomprom noted that, as a result of the planned uranium tax increase, different companies’ joint ventures and subsidiaries are expected to have different applicable tax rates, starting in 2026.
The new tax rate changes will come in two waves. The first, effective from 1 January 2025, will impose an initial increase from the current 6 percent to 9 percent.
Starting in 2026, the tax will take on a more complex and differentiated rate structure based on production volumes and the price of natural uranium concentrate (U3O8).
For production volumes up to 500 metric tons, the rate will be 4 percent, increasing incrementally to a maximum of 18 percent for volumes exceeding 4,000 metric tons.