German Chancellor Merz: EU likely won’t use new trade tool in best case

Merz's framing of the new trade instrument as something best left unused is a signal of preference rather than a policy shift: it suggests Berlin would rather keep the tool as a deterrent than as an active lever. The vagueness about which instrument and what conditions would trigger it is itself notable, leaving room for interpretation among EU trading partners. Whether that ambiguity is read as restraint or as unresolved internal disagreement is the open question worth watching as the bloc's trade posture develops.