Faced with Trump's 30% customs duties, Europe, under pressure, postpones its retaliatory measures

Donald Trump's threats are working. Twenty-four hours after his letter to Ursula von der Leyen , in which he promised to impose 30% tariffs on all European products starting August ¹ , and to add the amount of any retaliatory measures, the European Union has once again given in. While a first round of countermeasures was due to automatically come into effect on July 15, the Commission President announced on Sunday that she was postponing this deadline to early August.

The European executive therefore continues to pin all its hopes on the success of the negotiations. A strategy that, so far, has not borne fruit: in recent days, Commission officials wanted to believe in the imminence of an agreement with the American administration, before being surprised by Donald Trump's statement at the end of the week, which also targets many other countries, including Mexico. "We remain ready to continue our efforts to reach...