“We will extend the suspension of our countermeasures until early August. At the same time, we will continue to prepare the countermeasures,” said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in response to questions from journalists on the sidelines of the press conference following her meeting with the President of Indonesia and the new trade agreement between Europe and Indonesia.
Von der Leyen was asked about the EU’s reaction to Trump’s new announcements and replied that Europe would proceed with the suspension of countermeasures until August 1, which is the date set by the American President for the imposition of 30% tariffs on European products.
She defended the choice of negotiations, which the European Commission supports as a solution to the trade war with the US, and was asked if the effectiveness of the dialogue strategy is now being questioned.
As she said, “We have always been very clear that we prefer a negotiated solution. This still holds true, and we will use the time we have now until August 1. Furthermore, we have worked on this and are now ready to respond with countermeasures. We have prepared for this and can respond with countermeasures if necessary. Thus, this two-way approach is yielding results because we are prepared.”
At the same time, she ruled out the possibility of the EU resorting to the ACI, which is the legal tool of the European Union created to address economic coercion from third countries, stating that “we have not yet reached that point. The ACI was created for emergencies” and emphasized that “we have prepared and agreed on the first list of countermeasures. We have also drafted a second potential list of countermeasures, which has now been agreed upon as well.”
She also spoke about the importance of the trade agreement with Indonesia, stating that we are moving towards “diversifying our trade relations, with a large and significant political free trade agreement with Indonesia. This shows that we are seeking new and open markets. Additionally, we are focusing on deepening the single market, as this is our safe harbor.” (13/7/25)
