JAKARTA (Reuters) – French trade minister Laurent Saint-Martin said on Wednesday that the current context of trade tariffs between the European Union and the United States makes strategic partnerships such as the one France has with Indonesia important.
Speaking to reporters in Jakarta, Saint-Martin reaffirmed that Europe and France both wished to avoid escalation in any trade war with the United States.
EU member states are expected to vote later on Wednesday on the bloc’s first slate of countermeasures against tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia in Jakarta and Sudip Kar-Gupta in Paris; Writing by Makini Brice;Editing by GV De Clercq)
