Von der Leyen defends the tariff agreement with the US as a commitment to "stability."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has defended the tariff agreement reached between the European Union and US President Donald Trump on July 27 as a "conscious decision" in favor of "stability and predictability" over "escalation and confrontation."

Von der Leyen, in a column for the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, to be published on Monday and with a preview reported by DPA, insisted that this agreement was a priority given the importance of the signatories and the international reality of the blocs.

"Let's imagine for a moment that the two largest economies in the democratic world hadn't reached an agreement and had started a trade war. That would only have been celebrated in Moscow and Beijing," he said.

The agreement reached in Turnberry, Scotland, establishes a 15 percent tariff on European products and commits the European bloc to additional investments, as well as energy and weapons purchases. Von der Leyen believes this percentage is more than acceptable in exchange for avoiding retaliatory measures that would have seriously damaged the European economy.

"With reciprocal tariffs on our part, we would run the risk of starting a costly trade war with negative consequences for our employees, consumers, and our industry," he argued, adding to his criticism of the Commission's negotiating tactics, which grant the United States better terms than those applied to EU companies.