The Foreign Affairs Council of Europe members met on July 14, 2025. They affirmed that the 30% tariffs announced by US President would be unjustified and unacceptable. Anyway, ministers remained fully committed to working with the US on a negotiated outcome, in order to retrieve stable and predictable transatlantic trade.
In this perspective, the extension of the suspension of the first set of EU countermeasures (additional tariffs on US imports worth about EUR 21 billion) from 15 July to early August, was broadly supported, aiming to provide more room for negotiations.
Nevertheless, preparations for possible additional countermeasures have been going on, and the Commission could present the relevant proposal(s) if circumstances require.
In parallel, the EU is doing efforts to diversify its trade relationships and deepen global partnerships. A prove of this is the political deal reached on 13 July with Indonesia on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
The US country-specific tariffs against the EU are on hold until 1 of August. However, the US is currently already applying some tariffs to the EU: "baseline" tariff of 10%, "Section 232" additional tariffs of 50% on steel and aluminum, and additional 25% on automotives. As a result of these US trade policy measures, currently around 70% of EU exports to the US are affected by various US additional tariffs.
Other bilateral trade negotiations are ongoing, such as Mercosur, Mexico, India, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and the revision of the Ukraine Association Agreement.
Ministers support building stronger bilateral trade relationships with a broader range of partners in regions like Latin America, Asia, the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa as well as with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Ministers welcomed the political agreement reached with Indonesia, which was a decisive step towards concluding negotiations by September 2025, and hoped that it would be possible to conclude an economically meaningful agreement with India before the end of the year.