Indonesia Can't Figure Out Why it's on Trump's Trade Hit List

  • Southeast Asia’s biggest economy on ‘trade abuse’ probe list
  • Pence visit aimed at deepening strategic and economic ties

An oil tanker, left, sits docked at a PT Pertamina facility at Tanjung Priok Port in this aerial photograph taken in Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov. 30, 2015.

Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg
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Indonesia is seeking to stay out of U.S. President Donald Trump’s bad books, using a visit by his deputy Mike Pence next week to reassure on its commitment to free and fair trade.

Officials in Jakarta were left scrambling after the country made it onto a list of nations Trump has ordered probed for potential trade abuse. While Southeast Asia’s largest economy had previously avoided Trump’s cross-hairs, it runs a sizable trade surplus with the U.S.